From Wisconsin Public Radio and PRI, Public Radio International, it's to the best of our knowledge.

Today, building stories.

I'm Anne Strange Champs.

I live in a house that was built around 1925.

And not long after I moved in, I met a very elderly gentleman who told me that he not only grew up in my house, he was born there, born in my bedroom.

It amazes me to think how much life my house has seen, and probably some death, too.

Do you ever wonder about the stories behind the buildings you live and work in?

I talked to a lot of people who grew up in different high-rise public housing communities,

and they talked a lot about floors, you know, knowing their neighbors and being involved with

other families on their floor, kids playing together, shared meals, you know, summertime out on the front porches, just a lot of

exchange and a lot of camaraderie and hospitality and support that people experience

building to building and particularly people knowing folks on their same floors. That's Audrey Petty

talking about Chicago's Cabrini Green Housing Project, once home to 15,000 people. It became a symbol of

everything that was wrong with public housing, and the city of Chicago tore the buildings down.

But Audrey Petty has collected the stories and memories

of the people who lived there. One of the things that's surprising in some ways to people who only know

the really notorious stories about Chicago public housing, one of the things that's surprising

is how many happy memories a lot of people had, especially people who grew up there.

Yes, you know, that was, I have to say that, for me, that was the first surprise of the process of talking to people was the many stories and the detailed stories that people shared.

They're happy, their joyful memories,

their memories of connection with people.

And as much as there were difficult stories that were shared,

...