Author: Your Tour Guide

439 Prospect  Street

c. 1870 – Italianate

Ransom B. Moore, wealthy banker from Troy, New York, arrived in Romeo in 1870 and established a private bank in partnership with E. W. Giddings (Citizens National Bank after 1874). The same year he purchased from Giddings two acres of the most desirable land on “the ridge” overlooking Romeo and constructed the costliest Italianate residence in town. The Romeo Observer for January 11, 1871 noted that the Moore residence was built “in the moat substantial manner.” It was “lighted with gas” and ”warmed with pipes throughout.” Particular note was made of “the fine observatory” and the total cost of the residence was estimated at “not less than $15,000.” Two years later, Mrs. Moore died and the home was sold for $12,000 to James Gray (1843·1911) owner of lhe Opera House and Clifton Mills. In February, 1874 Mr. & Mrs. Gray held a reception in their new home and The Romeo Observer called it “the event of the season.” The home was “commodious and splendidly furn­ ished.” The food was “rich and tempting” and “excellent music supplied the wants of those who felt inclined to dance.” It was “an event to be long remembered.” In 1886, the home was sold again, this time to the widow of lumber baron Henry Stephens I. Madame Stephens (1831-1919) extended the porches, added a sun room and used the home as her “summer retreat” well into the twentieth century.

439 Morton Street

c. 1872 (R) 1940, 2016 Second Empire – Colonial

Alden Giddings (1820-1886), a native of Stafford, Connecticut, arrived in Romeo in 1857 where his older brothers, Edwin and Moses, had already achieved wealth in merchandising. Alden opened his own dry goods store and like his brothers, soon accumulated a fortune. In 1872, his “French Cottage with a full man­sard roof was completed by Romeo builder, R F. Odion. The Romeo Obseruer proclaimed it “a house of the finest architectural beauty . . . and for completeness in all its parts, beauty and variety of furnish, surpasses anything in our village.” A great variety of woods were used on the interior: “alternate strips of maple and black walnut” in the hall floor, “pine and black walnut” woodwork in the dining room, “butternut, ash and black walnut” doors, and “pine, ash, black walnut and maple” in the first floor bathroom. During the 1940’s the home was completely rebuilt in the Colonial style. In 2016, the home was completely remodeled again leaving virtually no remanent of the home built by Giddings.

441 Minot Street

c. 1959 – Modern

This is the most architecturally signifi­cant modern residence in Romeo today, yet its major feature, an enclosed garden court or “atrium” is an ancient Roman concept. Archi­tect Glen Paulsen, talented student of Eero Sa­narinen and past president of the Cranbrook Art Academy designed this home in 1959 for James Church owner of Church & Church Lumber Co.

381 Chandler Street

c. 1861 – Greek Revival

James Reardon (1824·1909) was owner of “the old East Mill” three miles west of town for several years and a grain dealer who occasionally had to travel to Chicago “to look after his wheat transactions among the sharks of that city.” The 1859 map of Romeo indicates an early building on this site. However, it would appear that the present resi­dence was constructed by Reardon after he purchased the property from George Chandler in November, 1860 for $152. The home, a late Greek Revival, has recently been · restored and is one of the moat striking houses in Romeo today.

307 Chandler Street

c. 1872 – Victorian Gothic

“D. H.· Rowley who sold a fine resi­dence last Spring, seems to be extremely fond of building fine houses,” noted The Romeo Observer in January 1871 “He has nearly finished a fine residence on Chandler Street in the Gothic style at a cost of $6,000. We hope circumstances will continue him in the business.” The best Victorian Gothic residence in Romeo and the model for several others, David Rowley’s second house was somewhat less exuberant than his first. Nevertheless, quality items were readily apparent: solid brass doorknobs with cockerspaniel heads in 1/2 relief handcarved ribbon designs on the window hoods, a spiral staircase, and ”the finest interior decorations in the village, being the work of E. H. Partch” Unfortunately, much of the interior has been altered in recent years. Notice the matching Victorian Gothic carriage house.

273 Chandler Street

c. 1872 (R) 1886 – Second Empire – Queen Anne

Hugh C. Gray (1842-1884) a native of the Romeo area, owned a flour mill at Lakeville, timber lands in Michigan and Georgia, a tugboat on the Great Lakes, J/:3 share of the Romeo Opera House, and a local carriage firm that provided General Grant with a “$500 road wagon.” Gray’s Second Empire residence “with mansard roof” was constructed in 1872 at a cost of $10,000 by R. M. Bickford of Romeo. In June, 1884 a fire broke out in the residence and The Romeo Observer reported that “The firemen were soon on the grounds and without stopping to rest from their long run and hard pull up the hill, they             rusherd their engine through fences and over all sorts of obstacles, and finally got to work with a scanty supply of water. The boys had to shift about 9 times with  their engine, after water, and finally play through many feet of hose up a steep hill.” Only the walls of the residence were saved. Several weeks later Mr. Gray died at 42, due to “the excitement attendant upon thd burning uf his home.”

William H. Tinsman (1836·1916) a successful Washington Township farmer, acquired the home for $1,250 in November, 1885 and hired Detroit architect John Scott to redesign the structure in the Queen Anne style. Many alterations have been made since the residence became a home for mentally challenged children c. 1940.

253 Chandler Street

c. 1852 – Greek Revival

George Chandler (1800-1867) a native of upstate New York, settled in Romeo in August, 1845 and established a productive nursery surrounding his home. He served as member of the state legislature in 1851 and was elected “repeatedly” as Justice of the Peace. His Greek Revival residence, c. 1852, was impressively placed at the head of Church Street Recently the original portico with un· usual Gothic arcade over the door has been re­ placed with a two-story colonnade. The side porch must have served Chandler as a vantage point from which to survey his hillside of flowers, shrubs and trees.

Hugh Gray (1806-1882) a native of Ayreshire, Scotland, and successful farmer and flour mill owner, purchased the Chandler residence in October 1869 for $5,750. Gray was endearingly called “Uncle Hugh” by most of the townspeople and was “a prominent member of the Runs of Temperance Society.”

261 Church Street

c. 1869 Eclectic Italianate

Looking very much like a richly decorated wedding cake, this ornate Italianate residence is the perfect summation of eclectic Victorian taste with its profusion of elaborate brackets, massive window hoods with carved rosettes and fleur de lys, exotic porches with Moorish “horseshoe” arches and Gothic pendants, Flemish gabled dormers, and mansard roofed bay window.

David Rowley (1831·?) a native of Livingston County, New York had settled in Romeo in 1853 and became a clerk in the M. A. Giddings dry goods store. In 1863, Rowley joined the fortune hunters in the oil fields of western Pennsylvania and evidently was successful, for when he re­ turned to Romeo in 1869 he purchased an interest in his previous employer’s business and became one of the social leaders of Romeo. In November 1869, The Romeo Observer noted that “David H. Rowley, of the frrm of Giddings & Rowley & Co. is building one of the most elegant resi­dences in the county.” The cost was estimated at $5,000. A progress report given by The Romeo Observer in April 1870, noted that “Worden Fenner built the woodwork, and the White Brothers are at the present time doing the mason work. The ceilings are to be furnished in an elegant style of panel work.” Soon after completion, Rowley sold the home to William Gray for $8,000.

“While Mr. Rowley has sold his place for a handsome sum:” noted The Romeo Observer, Mr. Gray can congratulate himself on having pur­chased a magnificent home in a. beautiful location.”

William Gray (l849-1937) a native of the Romeo area, owned a large flour mill in Romeo and during the 1880s manufactured a hand ‘”corn planter” that scatlercd the seed:s rather than “bunched them”‘ and had ·’an attachment for pumpkin seeds that . . . drops a seed every fourth hill  or as wanted.” Notice     the fine carriage   house to the back of the lot.

260 Church Street

c. 1865 – Greek Revival

On April 17, 1865 Joel P. Muzzy, a dealer in flour, feed and groceries purchased this residence from George Chandler for $1600. It is likely that Chandler had just completed the residence in 1864 for speculative purposes. Joel Muzzy had two well educated daughters. Abbie was a voice and instrumental music teacher who served as choir leader and organist at the First Congregational Church. Maria, somewhat more adventurous, spent several years (1871-74) teaching recently disenfranchised Negroes at “the Union Academy” in Columbus Mississippi. The Academy consisted of 400 students directed by Superintendent J. N. Bishop, and was taught by ”six ladies of high qualifications from the north. The opposition they faced from the southerners was discussed by Miss Muzzy m a letter sent to her family on March 12, 1871 and published in The Romeo Observer:

“I write hastily and only a few words, to tell you that the Ku Klux have not got me … They passed by our house last week, a little before daybreak without molesting us. We have been repeatedly assured that if they do come here they will not harm the ladies, unless we attempt o defend Mr. Bishop. He himself has no fear of them, because he thinks it is perfectly under· stood that if they kill him the blacks will burn the city.” Miss Muzzy later became a teacher at Berea College, Kentucky.

252 Church Street

c. 1859 – Greek Revival

This Greek Revival residence was originally a modest 1 and a 1/2 story cottage that was moved to the site and placed on stilts to form a two story dwelling. Some say that the cottage originally belonged to the University of Michigan branch in Romeo. George Chandler was probably reaponsible for completing the house in 1864 for speculative reasons. On September 26th of that year he sold the residence to Rosannah Price for $1500. In the real estate transaction at this time, it was noted that the western boundary of he lot went through the center of a well.” During the 1940s, the Palmer family, desiring to reproduce the pillared mansions of the south, added the present fascade with its cast-iron Corinthian columns.