Business & Tech

Payment of Back Taxes Keeps Stier's Hardware Out of Foreclosure

Stier's owners still owe 2010 and 2011 taxes to Macomb County and the building itself has been closed by order of the Macomb Township Fire Department.

at 22 Mile Road and Romeo Plank is a familiar sight for Macomb Township residents, but whether the business is open, closed or abandoned is probably a mystery for most.

More than 100 years old, Stier’s Hardware was one of the first businesses established in what is now “historic Waldenburg,” the community around Romeo Plank and 22 Mile Road named and settled by German immigrants in the 1830s.

Owned and operated by generations of the Stier family, the business fell behind on its taxes in 2009 and was listed by Macomb County as a tax delinquent property. Despite recent payment of its 2009 taxes, the business will not be taken off this list until its 2010 and 2011 taxes are paid.

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According to the Macomb County Treasurer’s Office, these taxes are $2,241.69 for 2010 and $1,748.75 for 2011. A clerk at the treasurer's office said Stier’s owners have until March 31, 2013 to pay the property's 2010 taxes. If payment is not made on or before this date, the county must begin foreclosure proceedings.

The building itself will remain closed by order of the , which declared the structure unsafe for human occupancy or use on Feb. 1, 2012.

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This community around Romeo Plank and 22 Mile Road began with a sawmill. An influx of German settlers in the 1830s turned it into a farming community with a Lutheran church (still in existence on 21 Mile Road and Romeo Plank), school, tavern, wagon shop, general store, blacksmith, hardware store, and other businesses.

The cemetery behind on 21 Mile has many of the original settlers buried there. The settlement was named after Waldenburg, Germany. The Macomb post office was moved here on March 29, 1860 and lasted until September 15, 1906. The building that Stier’s is located in was originally across the street from where it is now and served as a dance hall for the Waldenburg community.

It was moved in 1903. Next door to the hardware store is the Waldenburg Tavern, now There was also a North Waldenburg and South Waldenburg, located, surprisingly enough, north and south of Waldenburg on Romeo Plank. North Waldenburg was located at 23 Mile Road and Romeo Plank, while South Waldenburg was located at Hall Road and Romeo Plank. South Waldenburg, also known as “Bobcean’s Corners,” was mainly known for its tavern, possibly located in the same building where “” is today. A park near 21 Mile and Romeo Plank has been named in honor of the settlement.

This history was compiled by .


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