The Nankin Township Historical Society

Plymouth Mail , June 23, 1899 The life of the prominent people of our towns are much the same as ours except that their trevails are given greater attention. If you recall, during the building of Henry Sustedt's [sic] factory at Romulus a tornado knocked it to the pilings. In this case it was spooked horses that knocked him down from his carriage to the iron bridge crossing the Rouge in Wayne causing a broken shoulder, two ribs, thigh and a thumb.

Detroit Free Press , August 26, 1892 Although the temptation is great since the pickings are abundant I'm not going to stay too long on this Romulus search which I have already found 3 great items from. Or perhaps I should. Raising hickory poles was still in fashion in 1892 as is evidenced with this article concerning Romulus Democrats erecting a 95 foot specimen for Grover Cleveland and Adlai Ewing Stevenson (no, not that one) at the behest of John Sherlock. Despite the announced speakers not showing up there was a baseball game to amuse the gathering. The team from Romulus lost to the visiting Plymouth Club. The batteries for each were: Plymouth (Penny & Wilbur) Romulus (Rutter & Perkins).

Detroit Free Press , July 3, 1893 As was the case with most small towns looking for a leg-up in the booming industrial age, plans were afoot in Romulus in the 1890s to make it a manufacturing hub. Being conveniently located at the crossing of the Wabash Railroad and the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad it made perfect sense for the time. As such, the Romulus Land Syndicate of Detroit, which had already lured such manufacturers as the J. M. Hommel Mfg. Co., The Romulus Knitting Mills, The Seestedt Furniture Co. and the Columbian Wire Works. Seestadt, having formerly been located in Wayne, needed an upgrade in their growing business and chose Romulus. On July 4, 1893 the Romulus Land Syndicate renting a train an offered a free expedition from the New Union Depot in Detroit to the burgeoning town 13 miles to the west. The only exclusions were children because they meant business, I suppose. Not a solitary event the land syndicate seemingly did this annually for a few years.

My happiness of finding an old defunct hamlet called Catville was short-lived as the town eventually evolved into New Boston. Which is sad but it also led me to this section of a longer article called History of Detroit's Real Estate that was written concerning a paper by C. M. Burton on just that topic read before the Detroit Real Estate Board in early 1900. Detroit Free Press , April 8, 1900 Mentioned are several defunct villages, name changes and neighborhoods. Included are Belgrade (bet. Delray & the Rouge Bridge), Cassandra (a mile & a half west of Woodward & the 10,000 acre tract [didn't this get mentioned recently?]), Mount Pleasant (sec. 31 within the town of Romulus), Truaxton or Truago (which became Trenton), Vreelandt (Flat Rock), Michigan City (Rawsonville), Grand Port (Ecorse) and Catville (New Boston). ( enlarge )

I've crossed out the name of this 18-year-old kid because he had all sorts of problems going on. I'm assuming that Gundella crossed out the rest to use on one of the shows she regularly appeared on not to mention that most of it is negative. But that's mere speculation. Said kid had no job but he apparently had money to buy grimoires. He l aso had some good questions and information, not to mention grammatical and letter writing skills. Hartford Courant , November 1, 1995 If I knew the answer to such questions as "why the Witches insist on keeping 'The Goddess's' name secret?" I'd have written a book on the good witch herself. The subject of witchcraft itself seems like a several decade study to even attain a novice working understanding of it. The Billings Gazette , October 30, 1972 Anyway, Bill Kennedy is a familiar name so I'll skip to Dr. Martello's "Witch-In" on Halloween afternoon in NYC's Central Park. 25 years lat...

Stroh's drinking hooligans vandalized the Romulus Cemetery just before Christmas of 1956. Some of the vandalized stones traced back more than 100 years. If followed a vandalism spree that struck both the post office and some parking meters in Romulus, along with an incident of a thrown mailbox from one vehicle that hit another. Obviously, post war small town America wasn't always so picturesque. It took me a few hours to piece the oversized and multiple scan front page together. The original pastiche is posted directly below. I did lighten it considerably in the scan below since there were so many clear lines of noticeable demarcation. I won't be scanning many more of these unless I get one of those industrial f latbed scanners. A readable version can be viewed here .

This 112-year-old real photo post card of Ira F. Johnson's homestead in Romulus is for sale currently for $30. Were it a modest price I'd have already purchased it but I can just lift the picture and pretend that I own it instead. Detroit Free Press, March 7, 1938 I'm envious of Mr. Johnson for two reasons: because of his glorious house and the fact that he owned a newspaper, The Romulus Roman among his other occupations which included notary public and deputy sheriff. All at the age of 74 to boot. Detroit Free Press , June 7, 1940 He was also active in a group called the Three Score and Ten Michiganders . They were native Michiganders who were septuagenarians or older, still lived in state and had no criminal record. Meetings were held on the first Thursday of each month where cards, music and games were played. Their June 7, 1940 meeting was at the Palmer Park Casino. Members included Charles C. Brewe, M. W. Scott, John A. Williams, Edward H. Maske and, of course, John...

I bought this 1909 postcard today from a Nellie to Mrs. G. W. Moore of Romulus. Who, I am guessing, is a daughter-in-law of George Washington Moore of Romulus or a relative since the family was prominent in the area. I assumed that it was Mrs. George William Moore but his wife's name was Katherine (De Mill) and it couldn't have been George Washington Moore's wife, who was named Mary, since she was deceased by 1909. G. W. Moore, the elder was a farmer and also a keeper of the Wayne County House from 1853-1855. The other names mentioned are Carrie, Mrs. J. Moore and Mrs. Johnson along with the writer of the card Nellie. There is a Nellie Moore buried in the Romulus Cemetery where the two G. W. Moores mentioned above are also buried. There were two siblings of George William Moore with the initial J., Jasper and James, who may or may not be related to this Mary Moore of Romulus. No matter to the who she is let her and the card be entered into the record. Detroit Free Press ...