Ann Arbor, Michigan University of Michigan of Michigan).
Regional and local performing arts
groups not associated with the university include
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michi- the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre; the Arbor Opera The-
and the county seat of Washtenaw County. It is gan, established in 1837. As the dominant in- ater; the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra; the Ann
the state’s seventh largest city with a population of stitution of higher learning in the city and one Arbor Ballet Theater; the Ann Arbor Civic Ballet
114,024 as of the 2000 Census, of which 36,892 of the top public universities in the world, the (established in 1954 as Michigan’s first chartered
(32%) are university or college students. The city, university provides Ann Arbor with a distinct ballet company); and Performance Network, which
which is part of the Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI college-town atmosphere. The university shapes operates a downtown theater frequently offering
CSA, is named after the spouses of the city’s found- Ann Arbor’s economy significantly as it employs new or nontraditional plays.
ers and for the stands of trees in the area. about 30,000 workers, including about 7,500 in The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, located in a
the medical center. The city’s economy is also renovated and expanded historic downtown fire
History centered on high-technology, with several com- station, cont ains more than 250 interactive exhib-
panies drawn to the area by the university’s its featuring science and technology. Multiple art
Ann Arbor was founded in January 1824 by John research and development money, and by its galleries exist in the city, notably in the downtown
Allen and Elisha Rumsey, both of whom were land graduates. On the other hand, Ann Arbor has area and around the University of Michigan cam-
speculators. On May 25, 1824, the town plot was increasingly found itself grappling with the ef- pus. Aside from a large restaurant scene in the
registered with Wayne County as “Annarbour”. fects of sharply rising land values and gentrifica- Main Street, South State Street, and South Univer-
The city became the seat of Washtenaw County in tion, as well as urban sprawl stretching far into sity Avenue areas, Ann Arbor ranks first among
1827, and was incorporated as a village in 1833. the outlying countryside. U.S. cities in the number of booksellers and books
The town became a regional transportation hub sold per capita. The Ann Arbor District Library
in 1839 with the arrival of the Michigan Central Local Attractions maintains four branch outlets in addition to its main
Railroad, and was chartered as a city in 1851. Dur- downtown building; in 2008 a new branch building
ing the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputa- Many Ann Arbor cultural attractions and events replaced the branch located in Plymouth Mall. This
tion as a center for liberal politics. During the 20th are sponsored by the University of Michigan. new branch is called the Traverwood Branch, and
century, the economy of Ann Arbor underwent a Several performing arts groups and facilities are opened on June 30, 2008. The city is also home to
gradual shift from a manufacturing base to a ser- on the university’s campus, as are museums ded- the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
vice and technology base, which accelerated in the icated to art, archaeology, and natural history
1970s and 1980s. and sciences (see Museums at the University
Events Ann Arbor sometimes appears on citation index-
es as an author, instead of a location, often with
Several annual events – many of them centered on the academic degree MI, a misunderstanding of
performing and visual arts – draw visitors to Ann the abbreviation for Michigan.
Arbor. One such event is the Ann Arbor Art Fairs,
a set of four concurrent juried fairs held on down- Contact
town streets, which began in 1960. Scheduled on
Wednesday through Saturday in the third week of Customer Service Center
July, the fairs draw upward of half a million visitors.
(Located diagonally across the street
Ann
One event that is not related to visual and perform-
ing arts is Hash Bash, held on the first Saturday of from City Hall)
April, ostensibly in support of the reform of mari- City Center Building, 1st Floor
juana laws. It has been celebrated since 1971. 220 East Huron
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Arbor
Fun Facts
(734) 994-2700
A person from Ann Arbor is called an “Ann Ar- Fax: (734) 994-1765
borite”, and many long-time residents call them- E-mail: customerservice@a2gov.org
selves “townies”. The city itself is often called A²
(“A-squared”) or A2 (“A two”), and, less common-
ly, 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.
