MARCH 20 ISSUE ANSWERS: On hot summer days Romeo residents often spent time at Cusick Lake. (Present maps spell it Cusick but older ones drop the “k.”) Carriages would have been lined up waiting for bathers, fishers, boaters or even an occasional baptismal ceremony by the Baptist church. There was a boathouse with boats to rent. How much swimming was done by the Victorian ladies was questionable; probably more wading than swimming, if you ever observed their swimwear. It was made up of three quarter length bloomers, a long dress-like full shirt, donned with a puffy, night cap hat. The later more risqué suits for men and women were made of wool. They consisted of Bermuda length shorts with v neck, sleeved, and hip length tops for women. Men wore the same length trunks, belted, with tank top style shirt, of course all wool. There were many other places nearby to swim such as Bowerman’s Pond (west of present-day McDonald’s on Van Dyke Avenue), or perhaps Streeter’s Pond (behind Bruce Township Fire Station No. 2.) Of course winter brought its own fun. There was skating, sledding, ice fishing, on some of those same ponds that provided summer fun. There was also the important work of commercial ice harvesting that may have interfered with some of that fun. The Romeo Observer of January 1913 reports: “Mr. Stewart S. Stone commenced housing his

MARCH 20 ISSUE ANSWERS: On hot summer days Romeo residents often spent time at Cusick Lake. (Present maps spell it Cusick but older ones drop the “k.”) Carriages would have been lined up waiting for bathers, fishers, boaters or even an occasional baptismal ceremony by the Baptist church. There was a boathouse with boats to rent. How much swimming was done by the Victorian ladies was questionable; probably more wading than swimming, if you ever observed their swimwear. It was made up of three quarter length bloomers, a long dress-like full shirt, donned with a puffy, night cap hat. The later more risqué suits for men and women were made of wool. They consisted of Bermuda length shorts with v neck, sleeved, and hip length tops for women. Men wore the same length trunks, belted, with tank top style shirt, of course all wool. There were many other places nearby to swim such as Bowerman’s Pond (west of present-day McDonald’s on Van Dyke Avenue), or perhaps Streeter’s Pond (behind Bruce Township Fire Station No. 2.) Of course winter brought its own fun. There was skating, sledding, ice fishing, on some of those same ponds that provided summer fun. There was also the important work of commercial ice harvesting that may have interfered with some of that fun. The Romeo Observer of January 1913 reports: “Mr. Stewart S. Stone commenced housing his ice at Cusic Lake this morning. The ice is about 12 inches thick and of excellent quality. A force of 25 men will be kept busy until the work of filling the ice house is completed.” The Bancroft-Stranahan Museum has a picture of the wood frame building, sitting by the lake, with double walls filled with sawdust for insulation as well as a picture of cutting ice on Streeter pond. Mr. Michael Bowerman allowed local residents to use his pond. Certainly any steep hill would have provided sledding. Fred Buike tells of great sledding on Minot Street as long as they had a look out at the cross road.
Children loved running behind ice wagons when they heard the ice delivery man’s horses coming. They were always in hopes he would throw them a few ice chips especially in the warmer weather just like the stir that the Popsicle man makes today.
—Joan Beringer, Curator