People of certain generations in the Romeo-Washington area will remember when Whistle Stop, located on the corner of 29 Mile and Van Dyke Roads, was a railroad museum with an 1869-labelled locomotive. That version of Whistle Stop came to be 60 years ago this week.
The Romeo Observer published this picture of what would become Whistle Stop in their June 2, 1966 issue. It explained that Bob Owen - a local sign man - purchased the building and moved it to its present site "for use as an office shop and also to house some of his historical items."
Constructed around 1916, the building was a railroad station that originally stood kitty corner from the Washington Elevator on West Road. The Grank Trunk Railroad ceased using the depot in 1960, offering to sell it for $200 ($2,250.14 in today's money). The catch was that the company wanted it off the right-of-way. It took six years to locate a buyer, and they did so with Bob, who was a streetcar and railroad buff. It would cost him $700 ($7,194.88 in today's money) to move it and several thousand dollars to restore it.
The location was perfect since railroad tracks crossed the intersection at the time.
Herschel P. Fink from The Detroit News stated that the depot was a combination station, meaning it handled both passengers and freight. It was divided into three compartments - a passenger waiting room, an office, and a freight room. Bob transformed the latter space into his sign shop and the other rooms into a museum that housed "his personal collection of antique railroad items, including bells, steam whistles, lanterns, and models."
Overtime, he bought a engine and two cars for the museum. According to Bob White, author of the article, "Whistle Stop comes to the end of the line," from the Macomb Community College newspaper The Ultimatum, Bob purchased the former in 1963 from a "steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario and was built around 1920."
He also acquired a 1916 caboose from the Chesapeake and Ohio line in 1967. Finally, he bought a 1930 interurban car "that was on the old North Shore Line, running from Chicago to Milwaukee" in 1968.
Now, one might be thinking, "Why did Bob Owen do all of this?"
As mentioned earlier, he loved streetcars and railroads. His father Hibbard Owen was the interurban stationmaster in Romeo during the time, in which the village was part of the Detroit, Rochester, Romeo, & Lake Orion Railway. That railway ran from 1899 to 1931. Hibbard operated as a station agent for 20 years until the station closed. Fun fact: the interurban depot in Romeo was located at what would become The Romeo Observer building on West St. Clair Street.
For about 10 years, Bob ran the museum. The Boy Scouts and school groups came in for guided tours. Then in 1977, he decided to close up the sign shop and the museum because "his taxes [had] tripled in one year and he also [had] reached retirement age."
In June, the locomotive, tender (the rail car connected to the locomotive that carries the fuel needed to power the engine), and caboose moved to the park behind Shelby Township Hall and next to the Anderson School house at 24 Mile and Van Dyke Roads in Shelby Township. The trolley was slated to go to Selfridge Base.
Several businesses have occupied the building since, with the latest being a liquor store.
Despite its brief existence, the Whistle Stop railroad museum made a big impression on those who went there. And, it was all because of one man whose love for streetcars and railroads motivated him to buy an old railroad station in 1966.
To learn more about Whistle Stop, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890. If you want to search for articles on that topic, you can find the Romeo newspapers like The Romeo Observer on the Suburban Library Cooperative's Local History Digital Collection website.
Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, June 2, 1966, p.3-A and June 8, 1977, p.12-A; Detroit News, January 19, 1969; Country Shopper Journal, February 2, 1977; and The Ultamatium, March 21, 1977, p.12