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Welcome
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state o Michigan
and the county seat o Washtenaw County. It is the
state's seventh largest city with a population o
114,024 as o the 2000 Census, o which 36,892
(32%) are university or college students. The
city, which is part o the Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint,MI CSA, is
named ater the spouses o the city's
ounders and or the stands o trees in the area.
Ann Arbor was ounded in January 1824 by John
Allen and Elisha Rumsey, both o whom were land
speculators. On May 25, 1824, the town plot was
registered with Wayne County as "Annarbour".
The city became the seat o Washtenaw County in
1827, and was incorporated as a village in 1833.
The town became a regional transportation hub
in 1839 with the arrival o the Michigan CentralRailroad, and was
chartered as a city in 1851.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a
reputation as a center or liberal politics. During
the 20th century, the economy o Ann Arbor
underwent a gradual shit rom a manuacturing
base to a service and technology base, which
accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ann Arbor is home to the University o Michigan,
established in 1837. As the dominant institution
o higher learning in the cit y and one o the top
public universities in the world, the university
provides Ann Arbor with a distinct college-town
atmosphere. The university shapes Ann Arbor'seconomy signicantly
as it employs about 30,000
workers, including about 7,500 in the medicalcenter. 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 it s graduates. On the
other hand, Ann Arbor has increasingly ound
itsel grappling with the efects o sharply risi ng
land values and gentrication, as well as urban
sprawl stretching ar into the outlying countryside.
Cultural AttractionsMany Ann Arbor cultural attractions and
events
are sponsored by the University o Michigan.
Several perorming arts groups and acilities
are on the university's campus, as are museums
dedicated to art, archaeology, and natural history
and sciences (see Museums at the University o
Michigan). Regional and local perorming arts
groups not associated with the university includethe 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 rst
chartered ballet company); and Perormance
Network, which operates a downtown theater
requently ofering new or nontraditional plays.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, located in
a renovated and expanded historic downtown
re station, contains more than 250 interactive
exhibits eaturing science and technology.
Multiple art galleries exist in the cit y, notably in
the downtown area and around the University o
Michigan campus. Aside rom a large restaurant
scene in the Main Street, South State Street, and
South University Avenue areas, Ann Arbor ranks
rst among U.S. cities in the number o booksellersand books sold
per capita. The Ann Arbor District
Library maintains our 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.
7/29/2019 SI 520 Lab 6: Ann Arbor Brochure
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Customer Service Center
City Center Building, 1st Floor
220 East Huron
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 994-2700
Fax: (734) 994-1765
E-mail: [email protected]
Sunday Morningby Carl Milles in Ann Arbor
Several annual events many o them centered
on perorming and visual arts draw visitors
to Ann Arbor. One such event is the Ann Arbor
Art Fairs, a set o our concurrent juried airsheld on downtown
streets, which began in 1960.
Scheduled on Wednesday through Saturday in the
third week o July, the airs draw upward o hal
a million visitors. One event that is not related to
visual and perorming arts is Hash Bash, held onthe rst Saturday
o April, ostensibly in support
o the reorm o marijuana laws. It has been
celebrated since 1971.
A person rom Ann Arbor is called an "Ann
Arborite", and many long-time residents callthemselves
"townies". The city its el is oten
called A ("A-squared") or A2 ("A two"), and, lesscommonly, Tree
Town. Recently, some youths have
taken to calling Ann Arbor Ace Deuce or simply
The Deuce. With tongue-in-cheek reerence to the
city's liberal political leanings, s ome occasionally
reer to Ann Arbor as The People's Republic o
Ann Arbor or 25 square miles surrounded by
reality, the latter phrase being adapted rom
Wisconsin Governor Lee Dreyus's description
o Madison, Wisconsin. Ann Arbor sometimes
appears on citation indexes as an author, insteado a location,
oten with the academic degree
MI, a misunderstanding o the abbreviation or
Michigan.
Welcome to Ann Arbor
