Category: North Tour

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.

236 Church Street

c. 1871 – Victorian Gothic (1960 Williamsburg Features)

245 Church Street

c. 1869 – Modified Italianate

Samuel A. Reade (1832·1922), a partner in the firm of Holland & Reade, Druggists and later president of the Citizens National Bank, had this modified Italianate home constructed in 1869 at a cost of $:3,500. Worden Fenner was the builder and “the rail upon the stairway a superior piece of workmanship” was made by Mr. B. D. Weston. The present porches arc c. 1900 replacements.

213 Church Street

c. 1850 – Greek Revival

The small Greek Revival wing of this residence was the original home on this site, built probably in the 1850’s or most certainly by 1861 when David Phelps purchased the property from Isaac Brabb for $500. The two· story upright portion was added in 1868 by Cyrus Durand, a local druggist. Living with the Durands was Mr. Durand’s sister, Mrs. Francis Wilder, an Oberlin College graduate and a teacher in the Romeo High School (1879-1881) whose grandson Thornton Wilder became the famous American author winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for his novel Bridge of San Luis Rey and again in 1938 for his play Our Town.

Durand & Mussey’s Drug Store which was located in Gray’s Opera House Block (ltll) included a restaurant in f.he rear where one could acquire “oysters, stewed, fried, steamed, raw, by the quart and in any size,” “good ice cream” and “a drink called root beer which is said to be very much superior to soda water.” On the second floor they established a “perfumery works” where they made “colognes, hair oils, tooth powders, cosmetics, and flavoring extracts.” Durand encouraged the establishment, in 1882, of “the Romeo Circulation Library” which was op­erated from his store with 157 books to lend.

In April 1883, Durand sold his home and business and moved to the Dakota Territory where a number of other Romeo people had already settled. Levant Bedell, prominent jeweler in Romeo, acquired the home at this time.

200 Church Street

c. 1901 – Colonial Revival  (Site of Romeo Branch of University of Michigan)

The largest branch of the University of Michigan was located on this site from 1843·1851. It was a flourishing institution of 150 students and four instructors with “a Female De­partment … connected with the Institute, in a separate room,” and $500 worth of scientific equipment including “a fine Achromatic telescope capable of showing clearly Jupiter’s moons and belts, and Saturn’s rings and satellites.” Until recently the University Elm stood where the sidewalk jogs. In 1901 the university buildings were demolished and the present Colonial Revival residence was contructed by Romeo Builder Benjamin Lloyd for Mr. and Mrs. Thompson Jr. Mrs. Thompson was related to the wealthy Detroit and Chicago Newberry families and inherited enough wealth from her great unde, Walt Newberry of Chicago, “wealth enough to make her comfortable for life.” ($23,000) The finest materials were poured into this spacious and well-built house including golden oak for the enormous staircase. solid cherry woodwork for the master bedroom, leaded glass. windows and brass lighting fixtures for the formal rooms of the house. In 1904,  an “automobile house” was constructed behind the residence to shelter Mrs. Thompson’s ”Cadillac automobile” which “she handles . . .like an expert.”

188 Church Street

c. 1869 – Late Greek Revival

This late Greek Revival residence was constructed in 1869 for John G. Stranahan (1869-1881) at a cost of $2,000. In February 1888, Dr. Robert L. Parkin (1860-1912) an “educated veterinary surgeon from Brooklyn, Long Island” who later became a medical doctor, purchased the home. Mrs. Parkin (1865-1930) was an older sister of Mrs. Omar Thompson, Jr. and showed great concern over the extravagant style of life her younger sister followed. The home was remodeled following the design of local architect Jack Burns in the late 1960s.