RCA Photo of the Week - July 24, 2025

Did you know that there was a Kroger grocery store right in downtown Romeo? A location was established in June 1942 on the west side of South Main Street. In 1950, the workers at that store planned a big anniversary party for one weekend to celebrate eight years of serving the Romeo public.

How did they do that? They made a giant birthday cake to cut up into pieces and give them to customers on the Friday and Saturday of the July 21st weekend. According to the July 27, 1950 issue of The Romeo Observer Press, the cake seen above "weighed nearly 400 pounds and was made up of 200 baked slabs one inch thick and measuring 12 inches by 18 inches."

Three bakers in the Kroger bakery in Detroit assembled and decorated the dessert from 9am to 5:30pm the Wednesday prior.

It was claimed that the cake was the largest in Romeo's history at that time. Now, I don't know if there have been cakes made in the last 75 years that were bigger, but judging by the picture, it would have been a tough act to follow.

Romeo Kroger manager Don Rasmussen and his wife Frances are seen in the photo cutting up the cake. They were able to divide it into 3,200 slices by 2pm on that Saturday. I would have loved to have seen the cake in person. It looks beautifully decorated.

Now getting a piece of cake while you shop for groceries sounds awesome, but that Kroger store did more to celebrate. In the cake itself, there were 79 capsules. Everyone who received a said capsule in their slice "exchanged it for a meat, produce or vegetable grocery prize."

In addition to the cake pieces and the capsules, that Kroger store gave away 2,300 balloons, 1,000 12-inch rulers, 1,000 measuring spoons, and 500 drinking glasses. Now, that's what I call customer service!

If the current Kroger store by 30 Mile and Van Dyke Roads did something like that today, it would be a piece of cake.

To learn more about that Kroger store, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890.

Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer Press, July 20, 1950, p.1 and July 27, 1950, p.8

RCA Photo of the Week - July 17, 2025

Thorington School has been in the news as of late for a good reason. The Washington Township Board of Trustees bought the property back in March, and they plan on moving it to a different spot along 31 Mile Road to make it a focal point for a park. On top of that, Romeo High School students led by trades teacher Craig Bryant are going to work on constructing and restoring pieces of the schoolhouse using materials donated by local companies.

Although little is actually known about its building origins, what we do know comes from Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli's book A History of the Romeo Community School District 1824-1976. In it, she says that the school had been in existence since the 1840s. The land, in which it stood, was owned by James Thorington as part of his 158-acre farm. Thorington was a Vermont native who came to Michigan in the early 1800s. By 1819, he was living in Macomb County. In his later years, he retired to Romeo where he purchased a home at 117 Bradley Street. His son James M. Thorington took over the farm, "continuing to lease the school property" (p. 129).

The schoolhouse as we know it was erected in the 1860s according to a design suggested by the State Superintendent's Office.

As part of her research for the book, Buzzelli took the photo you see here in 1975. The Thorington Schoolhouse appears to be in fairly good condition surrounded by bushes. After it consolidated in 1955, the building was used as the Lake Cusic Grange Hall for over a decade. What's also interesting is that there's a spire on top of the bell tower. That's absent in pictures of the school taken in the last 35 years. We can only assume that it went missing sometime after 1975.

Buzzelli also took pictures of other schools in the Romeo-Washington-Bruce area and used old school records as part of her research. Along with the photo seen above, these can be found in the Romeo Community Schools Administrative Center Collection housed at the Romeo Community Archives.

To see more photos and documents from the Romeo Community Schools Administrative Center Collection, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890.

Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Romeo Community Schools Administrative Center Collection, 1975; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, June 30, 1955, p.I-5 and August 7, 1991, p.1-B; and The Record, March 19-25, 2025, p.1 and p.4