Walk the brick-paved streets of German Village, one of the capital city's most vital and historically prominent neighborhoods. Founded as a haven for German settlers in the mid-1800s, the neighborhood, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is renowned for its preserved architecture and its hearty citizenry, such as Max Visocnik, who gave us Max & Erma's in 1958, and the Schmidt family, proprietors of the famed Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus, a German Village institution for more than one hundred years. Join German Village Society director of historic preservation programs Jody Graichen as she recounts the struggles of the German immigrants, the rise of the neighborhood and the efforts to preserve a Columbus jewel in this collection of columns previously published in ThisWeek Community Newspapers.