institution of higher learning in the city and one
of the top public universities in the world, the uni-
History
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michi-
gan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. It
is the state’s seventh largest city with a popula-
tion of 114,024 as of the 2000 Census, of which
36,892 (32%) are university or college students.
The city, which is part of the Detroit-Ann Arbor-
Flint, MI CSA, is named after the spouses of the
city’s founders and for the stands of trees in the
area.
Ann Arbor was founded in January 1824 by
John Allen and Elisha Rumsey, both of whom
were land speculators. On May 25, 1824, the
town plot was registered with Wayne County as
“Annarbour”. The city became the seat of Washt-
enaw County in 1827, and was incorporated as
a village in 1833. The town became a regional
transportation hub in 1839 with the arrival of the
Michigan Central Railroad, and was chartered
as a city in 1851. During the 1960s and 1970s,
the city gained a reputation as a center for liberal
politics. During the 20th century, the economy of
Ann Arbor underwent a gradual shift from a manu-
facturing base to a service and technology base,
which accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s.
Education
Ann Arbor is home to the University of
Michigan, established in 1837. As the dominant
versity provides Ann Arbor with a distinct college-
town atmosphere. The university shapes Ann Ar-
bor’s economy significantly as it employs about
30,000 workers, including about 7,500 in the
medical center. The city’s economy is also cen-
tered on high-technology, with several companies
drawn to the area by the university’s research and
development money, and by its graduates. On
the other hand, Ann Arbor has increasingly found
itself grappling with the effects of sharply rising
land values and gentrification, as well as urban
sprawl stretching far into the outlying countryside.
tered ballet company); and Performance Network,
which operates a downtown theater frequently of-
fering new or nontraditional plays.
Culture
Many Ann Arbor cultural attractions and Points of Interest
events are sponsored by the University of Michi-
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, located
gan. Several performing arts groups and facilities
in a renovated and expanded historic downtown
are on the university’s campus, as are museums
fire station, contains more than 250 interactive ex-
dedicated to art, archaeology, and natural history
hibits featuring science and technology. Multiple
and sciences (see Museums at the University of
art galleries exist in the city, notably in the down-
Michigan). Regional and local performing arts
town area and around the University of Michigan
groups not associated with the university include
campus. Aside from a large restaurant scene in
the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre; the Arbor Opera
the Main Street, South State Street, and South
Theater; the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra; the
University Avenue areas, Ann Arbor ranks first
Ann Arbor Ballet Theater; the Ann ArborCivic Bal-
among U.S. cities in the number of booksellers
let (established in 1954 as Michigan’s first char-
and books sold per capita. The Ann Arbor Dis-
trict Library maintains four branch outlets in ad-
dition to its main downtown building; in 2008 a
new branch building replaced the branch located
in Plymouth Mall. This new branch is called the
Traverwood Branch, and opened on June 30,
2008. The city is also home to the Gerald R. Ford
Presidential Library.
Events
Several annual events – many of them cen-
tered on performing and visual arts – draw visi-
tors to Ann Arbor. One such event is the Ann Ar-
 Customer Service
(Located diagonally across the street from City Hall)
City Center Building, 1st Floor
220 East Huron
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Ann Arbor
(734) 994-2700
Fax: (734) 994-1765
E-mail: customerservice@a2gov.org

bor Art Fairs, a set of four concurrent juried fairs

held on downtown streets, which began in 1960.
Scheduled on Wednesday through Saturday in
the third week of July, the fairs draw upward of
half a million visitors. One event that is not related
to visual and performing arts is Hash Bash, held
on the first Saturday of April, ostensibly in support
of the reform of marijuana laws. It has been cel-
ebrated since 1971.

Facts
A person from Ann Arbor is called an “Ann
Arborite”, and many long-time residents call them-
selves “townies”. The city itself is often called A²
(“A-squared”) or A2 (“A two”), and, less commonly,
Tree Town. Recently, some youths have taken to
calling Ann Arbor Ace Deuce or simply The Deuce.
With tongue-in-cheek reference to the city’s lib-
eral political leanings, some occasionally refer to
Ann Arbor as The People’s Republic of Ann Arbor
or 25 square miles surrounded by reality, the latter
phrase being adapted from Wisconsin Governor
Lee Dreyfus’s description of Madison, Wisconsin.
Ann Arbor sometimes appears on citation indexes
as an author, instead of a location, often with the
academic degree MI, a misunderstanding of the
abbreviation for Michigan.