AUGUST 30 ISSUE ANSWERS: It is 1903 and Romeo is shopping! Romeo merchants are traveling to New York on the train and placing orders for the items they feel they can sell to their shoppers. The merchandise arrives by train and is displayed in the stores on Main Street. Ford’s Clothing store sells the latest fashions for men, ladies and children, shipped from New York. Farmers can purchase the latest James Oliver Sulky Plow from H. H. Morland’s hardware. Shoppers can purchase pianos, organs, sweepers, electric irons, stoves, furniture, a White Sewing machine, or a coffin right in Romeo. If the item is not available in the village, the shopper can hop on the streetcar and shop in Detroit. The old Romeo Observer papers show the many advertisements for the local items on Main Street. Municipal water system, electric power, streetcars, churches, private schools, public schools, an opera house, marble hall for dances, and a train depot all have arrived in the first 90 years of Romeo’s past. Every Saturday night the shoppers arrived in their carriages while the “Boys in the Band” played, thousands came according to The Romeo Observer paper. They recorded the numbers. “Ninety-one farms’ rigs were hitched on our streets last Saturday. People for miles around come to the best town on Earth to do their trading.” Romeo Observer Paper January 1, 1913 (For the last 8 months, this column has been about Romeo’s first 90 years. What a nice place to live because of those who came before! Richard Beringer, Romeo Historical Society staff)