No list of friends, supporters and benefactors would be complete without including
Becker Iron and Metal.
Richard Becker founded General Iron and Steel in the 1980's
with $500 and a scale (he couldn't afford the proverbial pushcart).
Since then,
it has transmogrified into Fenster Iron and Metal and finally arriving at Becker
Iron and Metal.
With this final relabeling, he has come full circle.
His father
and grandfather's 100 year-old metal business was a fixture of St. Louis for years.
Dean met Richard because he used to go to the prior tenant of Richard's first
yard to do business with Sam Wool.
Then one day Sam was gone and here was Richard
and Richard would buy Dean's scrap.
More importantly, Richard had things to sell.
For
years Dean would show up in his old El Camino in between trips to Russia, Germany
and Jamaica.
Richard would have interesting tools, sheets of steel, nuts, bolts-
even Dean's kitchen sink was replaced from Richard's.
And then it got really interesting with the commencement of the building of
City Museum.
Dean introduced Bob to Richard and there was a natural rapport.
So
basically everything iron or steel one sees at City Museum came from General, Fenster's
or Becker (i.e. Richard).
After Bob's death and Dean's departure from City Museum, Dean continued to utilize the resources at Becker's to build the Taj Mahal of Illinois.
Becker is a family owned and operated company and are likely second or third
largest in St. Louis depending upon to whom you speak.
They have digital photo
cameras to document the loads and certified accurate scales to guarantee perfect
weights and pricing.
And the humorous irony of all this?
Becker Iron and Metal has no inkling
of what Dean does with the stuff he drags home.
Their viewing of this website
will be the first they realize he doesn't live under a bridge someplace hugging up
all the junk he bought.
That said, the Taj Mahal of Illinois would have been impossible
without Becker Iron and Metal.
That's because everything metal in the building
is from Becker Iron and Metal
This includes scaffolding, hoists, winches, stainless
steel, I-beams fasteners, ladders and other items too mumerous to mention.
"a sheynem dank"