Washington Township workers moved the rock Thursday morning to its new home at the Romeo District Library on Van Dyke. The billboard of goodwill for greetings, birthday wishes and celebrations had been a welcoming beacon into Washington Township. In June, “Black Lives Matter” was painted on the rock, which started a volley of racial slurs and a back-and-forth struggle to control the message on the rock. While plans were being made to move the rock by late 2021, the contentious back-and-forth made the land owners uncomfortable. The library accepted Romeo Rock with open arms.

Romeo Rock moves to new location at Romeo District LibraryPublished: July 9, 2020, 5:40 pmThe iconic rock that normally welcomes people into Romeo had sat on private land for more than four decades, but after it was vandalized with racial slurs, the owners wanted it gone.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An iconic rock that normally welcomes people into Romeo had a peaceful message on it vandalized with racial slurs. The iconic rock is usually a beacon of unity featuring happy birthday messages, congratulations messages, and other messages of hope. READ: Here’s how you can support the fight against racial injustice without leaving your homeOver the weekend someone painted “Black Lives Matter” on it. Someone else changed to “all lives matter” and it went back and forth all day. On Sunday night, the Romeo High School basketball coach drove by and someone had written racial slurs on the rock.