On November 18, 1899, the first electric streetcar arrived in Romeo and traveled up a track in the center of Main Street, connected by long rods to overhead electrical lines. It later turned west on St. Clair Street to the new Detroit United Railway station in the former Ketchum Brothers carriage factory. By joining the electric streetcar network established across southern Michigan, Romeo was no longer an isolated rural setting. Business, shipping, and recreation grew along the tracks, but the popularity of the automobile and rising costs ended Romeo's electric streetcar system in 1931. In addition to passenger cars, specialized streetcars included express cars, double-header cars linked together, and milk cars for transporting milk cans.