Editing Romulus, Michigan (section)

==History==
The first white settler in Romulus was Samuel Polyne, a French-Canadian, who settled on [[section (land)|section]] 2 in 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.  He improved land and planned to bring his family to settle there, but he died before he could carry out this plan.<ref>Romig, Walter. ''Michigan Place Names'' (Grosse Pointe: Walter Romig, n.d.) p. 483</ref>

Solomon Whitaker, Charles and Joseph Pulcifer located in the area in 1830, and in 1833, Jenks Pullen and his six sons settled at what became known as "Pullen's Corners" (located in section 19 at the intersection of Ozga and Goddard roads, now commonly called "Five Points"). Pullen's Corners was [[plat]]ted in 1836. The community later took on the name of the township.<ref name="Fuller">{{cite book|last=Fuller |first=George Newman |title=Local history of Detroit and Wayne County / edited by George B. Catlin | orig-year=1928? |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/arh7780.0001.001 |access-date=2007-04-01 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Library |location=Ann Arbor, Mich. |pages=109–110 |chapter=County Organization and Government |chapter-url= http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty;cc=micounty;idno=arh7780.0001.001;didno=ARH7780.0001.001;view=image;seq=115;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset }}</ref><ref name="Farmer">{{cite book |last=Farmer |first=Silas |title=History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan | orig-year=1890 |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/bad1460.0002.001 |access-date=2007-04-01 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Library |location=Ann Arbor, Mich. |pages=1362–1364 |chapter=Romulus Township |chapter-url= http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty;cc=micounty;idno=bad1460.0002.001;didno=BAD1460.0002.001;view=image;seq=668;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset; }}</ref><ref name="Carlisle">{{cite book |last=Wayne County Historical and Pioneer Society. |editor=Frederick Carlisle |title=Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest Territory and Wayne County | orig-year=1890 |url= http://name.umdl.umich.edu/bad1137.0001.001 |access-date=2007-04-01 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Library |location=Ann Arbor, Mich. |pages=81 |chapter=Romulus  |chapter-url= http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty&cc=micounty&idno=bad1137.0001.001&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=85 }}</ref><ref name="Brief History">{{cite web |title=Brief History of Romulus |publisher=City of Romulus |url=http://www.romulusgov.com/index.asp?site=24&item=1363 |access-date=2007-04-01 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061031230418/http://www.romulusgov.com/index.asp?site=24&item=1363 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2006-10-31}}</ref>

The township of Romulus was set off from a part of [[Huron Charter Township, Michigan|Huron Township]] by an act of the [[Michigan Territorial Council]] on March 17, 1835, and the first township meeting was held on April 16, 1835, two years before the State of Michigan was admitted in to the Union (1837), in the house of Joseph T. Pullen. The first supervisor was David J. Pullen. The township's name was changed to "Wayne" on March 19, 1845, but was changed back to Romulus on January 16, 1848.<ref name="Fuller"/><ref name="Farmer"/><ref name="Carlisle"/><ref name="Brief History"/>

Romulus incorporated as a city in 1970.<ref>Romig. ''Michigan Place Names'', p. 483</ref>

===Village of Romulus===
The village of Romulus was platted on the Lansing B. Misner estate in 1871.<ref>Romig. ''Michigan PlaceNames''. p. 484</ref>

===Underground Railroad stops===
Romulus was a stop of the [[Underground Railroad]] in the 1800s when slaves fled the inhumane conditions of plantations in the South for the free states of the North. There were two stops in Romulus and those structures are still intact to this day.
* '''Samuel Kingsley Home''' is a famous historic landmark in Romulus. During slave times, [[Samuel R. Kingsley]] lived in a house on Ozga Rd near Pullens Corners, what is today known as Five Points. He hid slaves in an underground cellar. Today, the house is located on Hunt Street across from the Romulus Historical Museum. The address to the house was 37426 S. Huron River Drive.
* '''The White Church''' at the Pullens Corner / Five Points was also an underground railroad stop. Today, the church, which is now called 5 Points Church, still sits at the corner.

===Preston===
Preston was located in the north-east part of Romulus. It had a post office from 1899 to 1906.<ref>Romig. ''Michigan Place Names'', p. 459</ref>

===Airliner incidents===
On August 16, 1987, Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus was the site of the [[Northwest Airlines Flight 255]] disaster, in which the plane crashed into an overpass bridge and exploded just seconds after taking off.  The crash killed all but one of the 155 passengers and crew and two more people on the roadway.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8805.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409052618/http://ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8805.pdf |archive-date=2016-04-09 |url-status=live|title="Aircraft Accident Report, Northwest Airlines, Inc. McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82, N312RC, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Romulus, Michigan, August 16, 1987"|publisher=national transportation safety board}}</ref>  A memorial for the victims is at the crash site at the Interstate 94 and Middlebelt Road interchange.

On December 25, 2009, another Northwest plane, [[Northwest Airlines Flight 253|Flight 253]], suffered an unsuccessful bombing attempt as it approached Metro Airport. Nigerian man [[Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab]] from [[Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula]] was convicted of eight criminal counts and sentenced to four life sentences plus 50 years without parole.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.politico.com/story/2012/02/underwear-bomber-sentencing-umar-farouk-abdulmutallab-to-receive-mandatory-072974| title = Underwear bomber sentencing: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab gets life sentence - POLITICO| website = [[Politico]]}}</ref>

===Chemical plant explosion===
On August 9, 2005, at approximately 9:30 PM, the EQ Recovery Plant caught fire. Citizens within {{convert|1|to|1+1//3|mi|km}} radius were forced to evacuate their homes. Romulus and Wayne fire crews and crews from neighboring communities managed to put out the fire after letting it burn down a little bit. Chemical-filled smoke filled the sky, causing respiratory problems. Many citizens from both Romulus and Wayne were taken to Oakwood Annapolis Hospital (now Beaumont Hospital-Wayne), about two miles from the explosion site. No one was injured.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4831186/detail.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208103818/http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4831186/detail.html|title='Toxic' Explosion Shakes Romulus|archive-date=8 December 2010|work=ClickOnDetroit}}</ref>