Romeo Historic District

Territorial Governor Lewis Cass purchased land on the present site of Romeo in 1822. This tract was located on a low ridge along which ran an Indian trail which closely paralleled the present main north-south street of the town. Settlement began about this time, and throughout the rest of the 1820's the village was called Hoxie's Settlement, after an early settler, or Indian Village. A traveler in this area at the time said: "The country in the vicinity of Hoxie's in almost every direction, is not, perhaps, surpassed as a farming district by any portion of the territory." Romeo was first platted in 1830; it received its name at that time from the wife of one of the village proprietors, who thought it "classic, musical, short, and uncommon." Although frame construction began in the mid-1820's, by 1836 log cabins were still predominant with only about thirty frame buildings in town. Even with this rustic atmosphere an academy began which thrived for several decades and undoubtedly affected the tastes and values of the villagers. The prosperous farming region which surrounds Romeo brought wealth into the settlement and soon permitted the villagers to indulge in the tasteful and unpretentious architecture for which the town is noted. By 1873 Romeo was called "the most important village in Macomb County." The Michigan Air Line Railroad reached town a few years earlier, and Romeo's import carriage industry had already achieved a reputation throughout the state. In 1882 one plant had a capacity of two thousand carriages a year. From this time on Romeo grew slowly; the population of about two thousand in the 1880's has increased to only about thirty-five hundred at the present time. Romeo still preserves the atmosphere of a prosperous and restful nineteenth century village dependent on both farming and small-scale manufacturing for its livelihood.

Romeo is outstanding in Michigan for its great concentration of historic buildings and for the great diversity of their styles. Virtually every major style popular from the 1830s until about 1910 is represented by at least several good examples. There has been very little intrusion by modern structures into the town's historic areas: even the main thoroughfares are not heavily modernized. The typical private residence is a frame building only slightly altered and well maintained. A few of the more imposing houses are of brick construction. Nearly all streets are lined by a double row of large shade trees. The boundaries of the Romeo Historic District are the rectangle shown encompassing the town on the U.S. Geological Survey map, Romeo, Michigan, 1943. The northern boundary partially follows Gates Street and runs east and west 2700 feet north of St. Clair Street. The southern boundary partially follows Durham Street and runs east and west 3180 feet south of St. Clair Street. The west boundary runs north and south 2940 feet from Main Street. The east boundary runs north and south 2400 feet from Main Street. Historical and architectural data, as well as photographs, has been gathered for approximately one hundred buildings located within the above-described boundaries. Over half of these buildings are shown in a birds-eye view of Romeo published in 1868.