John Plankinton's Six-Foot Bronze Mate: A Trip through Time at The Shops of

Sit back and let me tell you a tale about the John Plankinton statue, a lifelike, six-foot bronze beauty that's weathered the years. William Plankinton, John's son, commissioned the piece mere seven months after John's kickin' off the ghost in October 1891. The statue took Richard Henry Park, the Florentine sculptor, a grand total of six months to carve out like a fine, albeit complex piece of art. Mind you, ol' Dicko had a bit of a dodgy relationship with John's daughter, Elizabeth, having left her with a broken heart not long before.

So, the statue isn't just a nod to a lucky cat businessman - it's a tribute to the tangled yarn of our human lives. Rome wasn't built in a day, and the John Plankinton statue's story ain't a breezy one, either. So, let's take a closer squint at this tall tale: Over the years, the statue has undergone five major renovations. It was initially plonked down at the Plankinton House Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. In 1916, the spot was transformed into the Plankinton Arcade shopping plaza.

Some years later in the 1970s, it metamorphosed again into the John Plankinton Mall. In the 1980s, it underwent a stonking great renovation and was reborn as the Shops of Grand Avenue. The statue, standing at a statuesque six feet, is a dead ringer for John Plankinton himself. Richard Henry Park was the man with the plan for this statue, even though he'd had a rocky road with the Plankinton family. The statue was crafted by the American Bronze Company and perched upon a 15-foot pedestal in 2012.

Today, it stands tall in the Shops of Grand Avenue, catchin' the eyes of hundreds of shoppers every day. The statue's pedistal bears the inscription 'John Plankinton 1820 – 1891'.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons