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NOV. 20 ISSUE ANSWERS: The Detroit, Rochester, Romeo and Lake Orion Railway car is parked in front of the current Romeo Village Hall. No, the building behind the streetcar is not the Romeo Village Hall, it is the station for the D. U. R., Detroit Urban Railway. The building in the photo was across the street from the current Romeo Village Hall. It had a similar shape. It has been razed to make room for what was known as the Locks Cleaner. The station was where you waited for the next streetcar to arrive. In the picture you can see the motorman and conductor waiting for a load of new passengers for a trip south on South Main Street, through Washington Township, crossing what will become Stony Creek Metro Park and arriving in Rochester. Turning north, one could travel to Lake Orion, and Flint or turning south the trip might end in Detroit. From Detroit a passenger could travel to Grand Rapids, Lansing or Toledo or many stops in-between. This 600 volt D.C. streetcar was an important transportation system for Romeo, 1899 to 1934. My friend Norm told me about riding the last streetcar out of Romeo in 1934 as a youth. He related how his mother used the streetcars. This is his story. Norm Ludtke’s streetcar memories: My mother and her girlfriends would take the interurban car to downtown Detroit (I believe Hudson’s Store) to go shopping. When my mother (Jenny Slating) was 18-19 years of age she would take her horse and buggy into Romeo (she lived at 29 Mile Road and Mound Road), leave her horse and buggy at a stable, and take the (street)car to Detroit. When she finished shopping with her friends, she would return to Romeo, retrieve her horse and buggy and go home. My parents put me on the last streetcar out of Romeo where I was picked up by my family near our home in Washington Township. That was the end of Romeo’s streetcar era. Richard Beringer, Romeo Historical Society and Norm Ludtke

NOV. 20 ISSUE ANSWERS: The Detroit, Rochester, Romeo and Lake Orion Railway car is parked in front of the current Romeo Village Hall. No, the building behind the streetcar is not the Romeo Village Hall, it is the station for the D. U. R., Detroit Urban Railway. The building in the photo was across the street from the current Romeo Village Hall. It had a similar shape. It has been razed to make room for what was known as the Locks Cleaner. The station was where you waited for the next streetcar to arrive. In the picture you can see the motorman and conductor waiting for a load of new passengers for a trip south on South Main Street, through Washington Township, crossing what will become Stony Creek Metro Park and arriving in Rochester. Turning north, one could travel to Lake Orion, and Flint or turning south the trip might end in Detroit. From Detroit a passenger could travel to Grand Rapids, Lansing or Toledo or many stops in-between. This 600 volt D.C. streetcar was an important transportation system for Romeo, 1899 to 1934. My friend Norm told me about riding the last streetcar out of Romeo in 1934 as a youth. He related how his mother used the streetcars. This is his story. Norm Ludtke’s streetcar memories: My mother and her girlfriends would take the interurban car to downtown Detroit (I believe Hudson’s Store) to go shopping. When my mother (Jenny Slating) was 18-19 years of age she would take her horse and buggy into Romeo (she lived at 29 Mile Road and Mound Road), leave her horse and buggy at a stable, and take the (street)car to Detroit. When she finished shopping with her friends, she would return to Romeo, retrieve her horse and buggy and go home. My parents put me on the last streetcar out of Romeo where I was picked up by my family near our home in Washington Township. That was the end of Romeo’s streetcar era. Richard Beringer, Romeo Historical Society and Norm Ludtke

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