Linda Osborne Cynowa

The Washington Elevator

Perhaps there isn’t too much general interest connected with an elevator or feed mill but they are very much depended on. While doing research for one of the books, I came across a very interesting photograph, that made me want to know more about what was going on in that image that was capturing a moment from a long ago time.

The Washington Elevator site and the town of Washington was a big place in those days, for many a year’s income depended on the produce the average farmer sold at what was termed the ‘Washington Market’. It was long remembered when teams of horses with loaded wagons in line, from where the school once stood on Van Dyke Rd up West Rd to where the elevator now to this day still stands.

Over the years the elevator would see many changes, where by 1950, a wooden addition, would be added to the original long standing structure. A write up in the Romeo Observer Press on March 12, 1953, states, “The new fire resistant Washington Elevator that had been risen literally from the ashes of the old wooden building that was destroyed in a hundred thousand dollar fire last September, should be completed by the middle of April. It would become one of the most modern elevators in the area”. In late September of 1952, fire did consume the building and it took the Romeo Fire Department, 16 hours to keep the flames from furthering into town. Neighbors were seen standing on rooftops watering down the shingles to ward off sparks, while others set up chairs near by to watch the firemen while enjoying the goings on in comfort. The 70 foot granary was destroyed by the flash fire, which incased the five-year-old recently added wooden structure. The fire would be from undetermined origin. This would give rise to the township realizing that Washington would need to move forward with an independent fire department of it’s own.

By April 22 of 1954, once again the Washington Elevator would hold their “Old McDonald’s Farm”, where many area youngsters attended a give-away of some 2000 baby chicks to the young potential farmers.

Washington Elevator in 2019 (authors image)

The Washington Elevator would occupy an important place in the area for farmers getting their produce to markets, both near and far. Today the elevator still serves the communities surrounding Washington both for farmers and homeowners and is still a valued part of the community.

On that ‘wee note’ till next week.

Articles and images, with thanks to Cheri Allen, at the Washington Area Historical Society and the Community Archives at the Kezar Library in Romeo home for the Romeo Observers of past.

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The Henry Jersey, William LeFever Farm

By 1823 the area soon to be called Washington Township contained thirteen inhabitants. That year the Jersey family came to Michigan from the east, and took over 120 acres of government land, making them the third family to settle here. Henry Jersey built a sturdy cabin for his family and on February 12, 1824 Mary Jane Jersey was born, known as the first white, non Native American, child born in the area. For eighteen years the members of this hardy pioneer family worked their farm and made the log cabin home, but the time soon came for a new and larger house. From the thick beds of clay on the farm Mr Jersey began making bricks. He made bricks until there were stacks of them around this cabin. When he felt he had enough, he built a home for his family from what his land had provided, along with many other homes in the Romeo area.

As the township grew with new settlers, Henry’s daughter Mary Jane Jersey would never move from her father’s brick house. Mary Jane passed away at eighty years old on May 22, 1904, with her burial at Washington Center Cemetery on 29 Mile Road.

11130 29 Mile Road, Washington (since demolished)

William Charles LeFever (1874-1946) married Mary Jane Smith (1879-1939) on September 5,1899, both being from Blissfield Township, Michigan. They bought the farm on 29 Mile Road between 1911 and 1912. The farm was said to be one of the stage coach stops on the route from Port Huron, Michigan to Pontiac, Michigan. The farm had a large cement lined pond used for watering the teams of horses from the stagecoach behind the house and a large oval stone at the east side of the house next to a large tree where the stagecoaches would pull up and let passengers on and off. The house had a large gathering room on the east half of the house, with several sleeping rooms on the second floor. Over the years many Indian arrowheads and artifacts would be found in the farm and surrounding area. The LeFever children when grown, would also build houses on both the north and south side of 29 Mile Road.

LeFever family, left to right, starting at back row, Homer, Elmer, Ina, Lloyd, Howard, middle row, Clifford, Donald, William, Mary, Vora, Ada, front row, Marian, Milton and Beulah. Although a number of family members would occupy the house as they got older, the farm was eventually sold to developers and now subdivisions of homes have taken its place along 29 Mile Road. From ‘Farming in Northern Macomb County’ by Arcadia Publishing.

On that ‘wee note’ till next week.

Thank you to the Greater Washington Township Area Historical Society and ‘Through These Doors’ and the William and Mary LeFever Farm Memories by Steven LeFever.

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Isaac Douglas Residence

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.

That beard would have concerned me, if getting dental work done!

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.

Isaac’s obituary from the Romeo Observer, October 20. 1909

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.

Romeo Cemetery, with the Romeo Middle School in the background

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.

The Douglas House toady, still serving the community of Romeo

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.

Washington’s Octagon

In 1858 Loren Andrus (1816-1901) with help of his brother in law David Stewart built, over a period of two years, his two story, eight sided home. The roof has extravagant Italianate supporting brackets and an octagonal cupola with weatherboard sheathing on top. A large porch supported by wooden Neo-Corinthian columns wraps around seven sides of the house. The family home has three-foot-thick brick walls in the basement and 15-inch-thick exterior walls.

The interior of the house has four rooms on each level. In the center of the structure is a dramatic staircase that extends upward from the main floor all the way to the cupola. There are 12-foot ceilings and 8-foot windows throughout the first floor, with 11-foot ceilings with 6-foot windows on the second floor. The rooms were equipped with iron stoves for heating. Next to each room is a triangular alcove, making hallways unnecessary.

With 16 rooms, it made up a total of 3,200 square feet of living space for Mr. Andrus and his family. Loren married Lucina Davis in 1841, and by 1849 he had received a land patent for 160 acres, just north of 26 Mile Road on Van Dyke where the Octagon House stands today. In 1854 Loren purchased an additional 80 acres fir $700.00, which is on the east part of the present day farm. Loren and Lucina went on to raise 8 children in the Octagon House.

Loren’s brother-in-law, David Stewart, was a famous architect and carpenter, well known for his building skills. One home built by David Stewart is the brick home on Van Dyke and 30 Mile Road, now owned by the Huntington Bank also the Washington Union Church, also still standing in Washington.

While the Andrus family owned the home until 1894, there would over the years be numerous other owners who made this 8 sided home the place to reside. While many others also attempted to run businesses out of the house and farm, money difficulties made it necessary for something more permanent to take place. It wasn’t until the ‘Friends of the Octagon House’ purchased it in 1987 did the house’s security become apparent.

Many rumors and stories have followed the house through the years, most difficult to prove or disprove, but on fact stands on its own. If given a chance the house needs to be seen to truly understand the treasure Washington Township is gifted to have. Today, many talks and lectures are given (pre-pandemic) on many interesting topics by many local historians. I was honored to be able to give a book talk on Arcadia’s ‘Washington Township’ in 2019.

If you haven’t been out to visit the Octagon House recently, please add it to your ‘to do’ list, it’s well worth seeing and it helps support the care of this beautiful preserved home. The stories and tales go much farther than I have been able to talk about here.

I want to thank the Greater Washington Area Historical Society and Friends of the Octagon House for use of information used in this blog. The Octagon House, Diary of Phyllis Hamilton.

On the ‘wee note’ till next week.

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What now……..?

I find that now with the ‘Farming in Northern Macomb County’ book having been sent to the publisher, my attention turns to “what now”! For many years I have been very interested in the great lakes lighthouses all around Michigan. I have tried to get too many of the lighthouses and photograph them for myself. A great many I managed to capture, but there was always ones I was unable to get too. Being that my thought process always seems to turn to anything of a vintage nature, I realized I would have to put aside my own images of the lights and work with older images, of which I had a some in the form of postcards.

Arcadia has another series of books, called ‘Postcards of America’ series. These books are very similar to the previous books, with the exception that Arcadia wants the majority of images coming from vintage postcards. Game on! Now, with a nod from Arcadia, I spend time searching out postcard images of the many lighthouses in the great lakes. Where the total scope of this book will be going is in the very early stages of thought, as what to be included and what not to include will take some time. Being able to put my love of lighthouse into book form is a very exciting venture that I am looking forward to.

Here are two vintage postcards, that will be a part of this venture;

Mission Point, in Grand Traverse County, on Lake Michigan, circa 1930’s

Point Betsie Light Station, Frankfort, on Lake Michigan

When seen in modern images of Point Betsie Light Station, these scruffy little bushes completely cover the front facade of this lighthouse, a photographic image of this angle is near impossible.

While I wait for the edits to come from Arcadia, were I will have to turn my focus back to Farming…. which they have now moved the publication time up to August from October. This interest of lighthouses is a subject that I am very excited about and will soon make my focus, I hope you will enjoy coming along on this ride, as I research these very valuable lights and how important they have been to the shipping industry in the great lakes.

On that ‘wee note’ till next week.

Thank you for visiting and reading today. Besure to share with your friends using the share button below. If you haven’t already please enter your email address in the form below to receive my stories by email.