Welcome to Ann Arbor
Regional
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 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.
Humble Beginnings
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 town became a regional
transportation hub in 1839 with the arrival of
the Michigan Central Railroad, and was char-
tered 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 accel-
erated in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ann Arbor Today
Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michi-
gan, 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 dis-
tinct 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. Several performing arts groups and
facilities are on the university's campus, as
are museums dedicated to art, archaeology,
and natural history and sciences (see Muse-
ums at the University of Michigan).
and local performing arts groups not as-
sociated 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 Bal-
let (established in 1954 as Michigan's first
chartered ballet company); and Performance
Network, which operates a downtown the-
ater 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 interac-
tive exhibits featuring science and technology.
Multiple art galleries exist in the city, notably
in the downtown area and around the Univer-
sity 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. cit-
ies 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.

Several annual events – many of them cen-

tered 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 Wis-
consin Governor Lee Dreyfus's description of
Madison, Wisconsin. Ann Arbor sometimes (Located diagonally across the street
appears on citation indexes as an author, from City Hall)
instead of a location, often with the academic City Center Building, 1st Floor
degree MI, a misunderstanding of the abbre- 220 East Huron
viation for Michigan. Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 994-2700
Fax: (734) 994-1765
E-mail: customerservice@a2gov.org
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