Emilia Starkweather and the Starkweather Millinery

Put on your favorite hat because on Friday, June 5th, the Starkweather Arts Center and the Starkweather Society will host an opening reception for an exhibition called "Hats Off!" The event is for all current residents. The exhibit will display hats from the Starkweather Millinery from the 1900s to the 1960s, and it will run until Saturday, July 25th.

The woman in the picture above is Emilia Starkweather - Helen Starkweather's mother and owner of the Starkweather Millinery. She made and sold hats for 30 years.

This photo was taken in Emilia's later years. It can be found in the Helen Starkweather Collection located at the Romeo Community Archives. In it, Emilia wears a green dress with a white bow on the left side of her chest and a square-cut neckline decorated with a white border. She also has on glasses and a silver necklace and looks straight at the camera. Due to her finger wave hairstyle, we can assume that the photograph was taken in the 1920s or 1930s. It's unclear if this is an actual color photo, or one that was colorized.

Emilia was born on April 23, 1874 in Ray Township to parents George and Elizabeth Garvin. The Garvins moved to Romeo in 1889. She would reside here for the rest of her life. Emilia graduated from Romeo High School in 1894 and taught for several years in nearby schools. In addition, she was active with the local Methodist Episcopal Church.

In November 1901, Emilia married Weed T. Starkweather of the prominent Starkweather family. About a year later, they would have their only child, Helen.

According to her obituary, Emilia later decided "to follow the millinery business, working first in the store of the late Sarah Stranahan [sister of Andrew and Charles Stranahan], then in Detroit and Indiana."

While it's unclear when she started to get involved in the hat business, she was ready to open up her own shop in April 1905 with the following announcement in The Romeo Observer.

The Cochrane building was located on 219 North Main Street in Romeo. Not only would Emilia operate her store from that address, but she also would live there. On top of that, that's the same building where the Starkweather Arts Center is currently at.

Emilia advertised exhibitions and sales in the local newspaper. They often looked like the one seen on the front page of the January 24, 1906 issue of The Romeo Observer.

Besides selling hats, Emilia also hosted events like a demonstration of the Spirella corset in 1916. An advertisement for it can be seen on the first page of The Romeo Observer's March 8th edition.

Now, you're probably wondering, "Why did Emilia open up a hat shop?"

There are plenty of possible reasons. One of them is that she may have wanted a change in her life. She spent several years as a teacher, so maybe she didn't feel satisfied in that position, hence switching to making and selling hats. However, a more concrete reason comes from her own family. Her husband Weed experienced mental health issues during his lifetime. He resided at the Pontiac State Hospital for over 10 years until his death in 1931. In a time, when men were expected to be the breadwinners, and women were supposed to cook, clean, and raise the children, this was not possible for Weed and Emilia. She had to step up and make money, and one way of doing that was going into the millinery business.

There were millineries in Romeo during the turn of the century, including the one that Sarah Stranahan operated, but the Starkweather Millinery most likely outlasted them. Emilia ran the business until her passing on September 8, 1935 in her home on 219 North Main Street.

Many people attended her funeral because they loved and respected her. Part of her obituary contains the following: "Mrs. Starkweather was deservedly popular, not only with the buying public, but with all who knew her and her friends were legion. She will be missed in the community where she had so long resided."

It's only fitting that an exhibition about Emilia's work would be in the same building where she operated her hat shop. Go check out "Hats Off!" at the Starkweather Arts Center from June 5 to July 25.

To learn more about Emilia Starkweather and the Starkweather Millinery, 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; Helen Starkweather Collection; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, April 4, 1905, p.4, January 24, 1906, p.1, March 8, 1916, p.1, and September 11, 1935, p.4; and Ancestry.com

RCA Photo of the Week - May 28, 2026

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