Ann Arbor, Michigan
sociated with the university include the Ann Arbor
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 found-
ers 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. Dur-
ing the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputa-
tion 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 ser-
vice 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 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.
Attractions
Many Ann Arbor cultural attractions and events
are sponsored by the University of Michigan. Sev-
eral performing arts groups and facilities are on the
university'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 as-
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 com-
pany); 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 exhib-
its featuring science and technology. Multiple art
galleries exist in the city, notably in the down-
town area and around the University of Michigan
campus. Aside from a large restaurant scene in the
Main Street, South State Street, and South Universi-
ty 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 main-
tains 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.
Events
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 down-
town streets, which began in 1960. Scheduled on
Wednesday through Saturday in the third week of
July, the fairs draw upward of half a million visi-
tors. One event that is not related to visual and per-
forming arts is Hash Bash, held on the first Satur-
day 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. Customer Service Center
With tongue-in-cheek reference to the city's liberal
political leanings, some occasionally refer to Ann (Located diagonally across the street from City
Arbor as The People's Republic of Ann Arbor or Hall)
25 square miles surrounded by reality, the latter
phrase being adapted from Wisconsin Governor City Center Building, 1st Floor
Lee Dreyfus's description of Madison, Wisconsin. 220 East Huron
Ann Arbor sometimes appears on citation indexes Ann Arbor, MI 48104
as an author, instead of a location, often with the (734) 994-2700
academic degree MI, a misunderstanding of the
abbreviation for Michigan.
Fax: (734) 994-1765
E-mail: customerservice@a2gov.org
Ann Arbor, Michigan