Welcome
the Arbor Opera Theater; the Ann Arbor Symphony
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 univer-
sity 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.
History
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,
which accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s.
University of Michigan
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 com-
panies 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.
Local Attractions
Many Ann Arbor cultural attractions and events are
sponsored by the University of Michigan. Several
performing arts groups and facilities are on the uni-
versity's campus, as are museums dedicated to art,
archaeology, and natural 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;
Orchestra; the Ann Arbor Ballet Theater; the Ann
Arbor Civic Ballet (established in 1954 as Michigan's
first chartered ballet company); and Performance Net-
work, which operates a downtown theater frequently
offering new or nontraditional plays.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, located in a ren-
ovated 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 Presiden-
tial Library.
Events Customer Service Center
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Several annual events – many of them centered on (Located diagonally across the street from City Hall)
performing and visual arts – draw visitors to Ann City Center Building, 1st Floor
Arbor. One such event is the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, 220 East Huron
a set of four concurrent juried fairs held on down- Ann Arbor, MI 48104
town streets, which began in 1960. Scheduled on (734) 994-2700
Wednesday through Saturday in the third week of Fax: (734) 994-1765
July, the fairs draw upward of half a million visitors. E-mail: customerservice@a2gov.org
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.

Fun Facts
A person from Ann Arbor is called an "Ann Ar-
borite", 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 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.

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