Having gained its statehood a mere twenty years before the start of the war, it could be said that its most prized city was forged and founded on the cold steel framework of struggle and despair. However, the spirit of the city had never been fully extinguished. Every time it was physically or figuratively burned to the ground, a phoenix of determination and subsequent prosperity would rise from the ashes, once more in illumination as the jewel of the Midwest.