­­Ann Arbor, Michigan
which accelerated in the 1970s
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S.
state of Michigan and the
county seat of Washtenaw
County. It is the state’s seventh
largest city with a population 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 Washtenaw
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 manufacturing base to
a service and technology base,
art, archaeology, and natural
and 1980s.
Ann Arbor is home to the
University of Michigan,
established in 1837. As the
dominant institution of higher
learning in the city and one
of the top public universities
in the world, the university
provides Ann Arbor with
a distinct college-town
atmosphere. The university
shapes Ann Arbor’s economy
significantly as it employs
about 30,000 workers,
including about 7,500 in the
medical center. The city’s
economy is also centered 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.
Many Ann Arbor cultural
attractions and events are
sponsored by the University of
Michigan. Several performing
arts groups and facilities are
on the university’s campus,
as are museums dedicated to
history and sciences (see
Museums at the University of
Michigan). Regional and local
performing arts groups not
associated with the university
include the Ann Arbor Civic
Theatre; the Arbor Opera
Theater; the Ann Arbor
Symphony Orchestra; the Ann
Arbor Ballet Theater; the Ann
Arbor Civic Ballet (established
in 1954 as Michigan’s first
chartered ballet company); and
Performance Network, which
operates a downtown theater
frequently offering new or
nontraditional plays.
The Ann Arbor Hands-
On Museum, located in a
renovated and expanded
historic downtown fire station,
contains more than 250
interactive exhibits featuring
science and technology.
Multiple art galleries exist
in the city, notably in the
downtown area and around
the University of Michigan
campus. Aside from a large
restaurant scene in the Main
Street, South State Street, and
South University Avenue areas,
Ann Arbor ranks first among
U.S. cities in the number of
booksellers and books sold per
capita. The Ann Arbor District
Library maintains four branch
outlets in addition 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.
Sunday Morning by Carl Milles
in Ann Arbor
Several annual events – many
of them centered on performing
and visual arts – draw visitors
to Ann Arbor. One such event is
the Ann Arbor 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 celebrated since 1971.
A person from Ann Arbor is
called an “Ann Arborite”, and
many long-time residents call
themselves “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
liberal 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.
Customer Service Center
(Located diagonally across the
street from City Hall)
City Center Building, 1st Floor
220 East Huron
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 994-2700 Ann Arbor
Fax: (734) 994-1765
E-mail: customerservice@ Michigan
a2gov.org