This Greek Revival home of Isaac Douglas DDS sits today at 288 North Main Street, Romeo. The residence was built at two different time periods, with the south portion was built prior to 1859 and the north portion was constructed prior to 1868. In 1862 Dr and Mrs Isaac Douglas DDS, purchased the home in 1862 and lived on the south side until 1907. In 1905 Dr Douglas had renovations made to connect the two structures together as seen today.
Isaac Douglas was born in Troy, Oakland County, Michigan on May 25, 1830. He was the third son of Nathan and Frances Douglas eight children. Isaac had an early life only with the advantages for an education common to the sons of Michigan pioneer farmers. When he turned 20 years he studied dentistry with his brother, who had settled in Romeo and continued to study with him until his brothers death in June 1852, then succeeded to his business. Isaac felt he also needed to study medicine for a wider scope in the health field, and started to read with Dr Wyker of Romeo. He would also start the study of homeopathy under the direction of Drs Ellis & Drake of Detroit. By 1858 he entered college in Cleveland, Ohio were he passed all his exams with the highest of honors and went on to be ranked amongst the highest in his class. Returning to Romeo in 1859 and began the practice of medicine together with dentistry. After 1865 he confined his practice to that of dentistry only.
As a dentist, Dr Douglas had been know for having put in 4394 fillings between January 1,1866 and January 1, 1872, with only 17 replacement fillings! Dr Douglas became one of the organizing members of the Michigan Dental Association. Dr Douglas married Elizabeth Clarke, a native of England, in 1852 and would go on to have three daughters and a son. The Douglas’s moved from the North Main Street address to Bailey Street in Romeo, where he passed away at age 79 years after a lengthy illness.
After finding the obituaries for the many settlers that I researched, I always felt I needed to follow up and make a trip to the Romeo Cemetery on St Clair Street (32 Mile Road) to find their final resting place. Dr. Douglas was a very important part of early Romeo, for the continued help he gave to seeing other future dentists come along in their chosen field.
The home would see a number of new owners over the next 100 years. The ‘Canary Cottage Tea Room’ operated from the the building between the 1920’s and 1930’s. Oliver Stirling was the owner of the Romeo Marble and Granite, and operated his business from the barn behind the home, sometime around the 1935 according to the enumerated census taken. The business ran in that location till it was sold in 1998 to Raymond and Thelma Hug, who would restore the home to be used as commercial office space. Today the Romeo Chamber of Commerce has offices here.
On that ‘wee note’, till next week.
I want to thank the Community Archives of the Romeo Public Library, or better known as the Kezar Library on Church Street and Main, for the use of images and articles for this blog. And to thank them for the opportunity to do the research on these interesting pioneering settlers in the Romeo area while volunteering with the library. Please remember that with these stories, this is such a small part of the information that many times is available, and always keep the library in mind to further your interest in this.
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Linda Osborne Cynowa 