the economy of Ann Arbor underwent a
gradual shift from a manufacturing base
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
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,
to a service and technology base, which
accelerated in the 1970s 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
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; 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
 itself is often called A² (“A-squared”)
or A2 (“A two”), and, less commonly,
Welcome To
Ann Arbor
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
per capita. The Ann Arbor District Library
of a location, often with the academic
maintains four branch outlets in addition
degree MI, a misunderstanding of the
to its main downtown building; in 2008 a
abbreviation for Michigan.
new branch building replaced the branch
located in Plymouth Mall. This new branch
is called the Traverwood Branch, and Customer Service Center
opened on June 30, 2008. The city is also (Located diagonally across the street
home to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential from City Hall)
Library. City Center Building, 1st Floor
220 East Huron
Sunday Morning by Carl Milles in Ann Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Arbor. Several annual events – many of (734) 994-2700
them centered on performing and visual Fax: (734) 994-1765
arts – draw visitors to Ann Arbor. One E-mail: customerservice@a2gov.org
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