City staff members and officials paid tribute to the 55th anniversary of the incorporation of Romulus as a city earlier this month donning green wardrobes, marking the “emerald anniversary” of the historic event.

    Romulus was incorporated as a city by a vote of residents in 1970 and has continued a path of growth and development in the past half century, according to historic records. In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Robert McCraight detailed the continued growth and development in the community which encompasses just under 36 square miles.
    Historic accounts of the city note that the first white settler in the area that eventually became the village of Romulus was Samuel Polyne, a French-Canadian, who settled in the area 1826, though he left soon after the township was organized in 1835. The first settler in the village proper (prior to the 1865 annexation of the whole village and township into one city) was Samuel McMath, who moved from New York state to the area in 1827. Then came other founders, including Solomon Whitaker and Charles and Joseph Pulcifer who located in the area in 1830, and in 1833, Jenks Pullen and his six sons settled on land that became known as “Pullen’s Corners” now commonly called Five Points.

    The township was named Wayne in 1845 but renamed Romulus in 1848 and was a stop of the Underground Railroad in the 1800s when slaves fled plantations in the South for the free states of the North. There were two stops in Romulus and those structures remain intact today. One of those, the Samuel Kingsley Home, is a famous historic landmark in Romulus. During slave times, Samuel R. Kingsley lived in a house on Ozga Road. Historic records note that Mr. Kingsley hid slaves in an underground cellar. Today, the house is located on Hunt Street across from the Romulus Historical Museum. The White Church at the Pullens Corner / Five Points was also a stop on the underground railroad. Now called 5 Points Church, the building still sits at the corner.
    The city is the site of Detroit Metro Airport and according to the last census data available, reported 25,178 residents back in 2020. The city was chosen by General Motors for the Romulus Engine plant on Ecorse Road in 1975. In 2018, Amazon opened a fulfillment center, north of Metro Airport near Ecorse and Vining Roads. Approximately 1,600 workers are employed at the site. Grocery retailer Kroger built a $95 million automated fulfillment center to accommodate fast-paced online grocery shopping near I-275 and Eureka Road in 2021. Romulus was the site of the first Sheetz store on Wick Road and a second of the national convenience stores is now under construction on Smith Road. The city is also the site of multiple major industrial park developments and has seen exceptional growth during the past decade, according to census data.
    McCraight presented his 4th State of the City Address on Wednesday, April 16 at Romulus High School. The entire presentation is available on YouTube, https://tinyurl.com/2chdm7hn