Ann Arbor, Michigan
City
Ann Arbor skyline University of Michigan Michigan Theater Huron River National Water Trail Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Flag Seal
Nicknames:  A2, A2, Tree Town, People's Republic of Ann Arbor
Interactive map of Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor Show map of Michigan Ann Arbor Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 42°16′53″N 83°44′54″W / 42.28139°N 83.74833°W / 42.28139; -83.74833
Country	United States
State	Michigan
County	Washtenaw
Founded	1824
Incorporated	1833 (village) 1851 (city)
Founded by	John Allen and Elisha Rumsey
Named for	The wives of the city's founders (both named Ann) and the bur oak in the area
Government [1]
• Type	Council–manager
• Mayor	Christopher Taylor (D)
• Administrator	Milton Dohoney
• Clerk	Jacqueline Beaudry
• City council	Members Christopher Taylor Cynthia Harrison Linh Song Christopher Watson Travis Radina Ayesha Ghazi Edwin Jen Eyer Dharma Akmon Jenn Cornell Erica Briggs Lisa Disch
Area [2]
• City	29.09 sq mi (75.35 km2)
• Land	28.22 sq mi (73.10 km2)
• Water	0.87 sq mi (2.25 km2)
• Urban	159.57 sq mi (413.46 km2)
• Metro	722 sq mi (1,870 km2)
Elevation	840 ft (256 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	123,851
• Estimate  (2021)[4]	121,536
• Rank	231st in the United States 5th in Michigan
• Density	4,388.14/sq mi (1,694.28/km2)
• Urban	317,689 (US: 129th)[3]
• Urban density	2,214.6/sq mi (855.0/km2)
• Metro [5]	372,258 (US: 148th)
Demonym	Ann Arborite
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)	48103–48109, 48113
Area code	734
FIPS code	26-03000[6]
GNIS feature ID	0620133[6]
Website	a2gov.org

Ann Arbor is a city in and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States.^[7] The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-most populous city in Michigan.^[8] It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County and had 372,258 residents in 2020. Ann Arbor is also included in the Metro Detroit combined statistical area and the Great Lakes megalopolis.

Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan. The university significantly shapes Ann Arbor's economy as it employs about 30,000 workers, including about 12,000 in its 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 infrastructure.

Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey.^[9][10] It was named after the wives of the village's founders, both named Ann, and the stands of bur oak trees they found at the site of the town.^[11] The city's population grew at a rapid rate in the early to mid-20th century.

History

Before founding as Ann Arbor

The lands of present-day Ann Arbor were part of Massachusetts's western claim after the French and Indian War (1754–1763), bounded by the latitudes of Massachusetts Bay Colony's original charter, to which it was entitled by its interpretation of its original sea-to-sea grant from The British Crown. Massachusetts ceded the claim to the federal government as part of the Northwest Territory after April 19, 1785.^[12][13]

In about 1774, the Potawatomi founded two villages in the area of what is now Ann Arbor.^[14]

19th century

Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by land speculators John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey. On May 25, 1824, the town plat was registered with Wayne County as the Village of Annarbour, the earliest known use of the town's name.^[15][16] Allen and Rumsey decided to name it for their wives, both named Ann, and for the stands of bur oak in the 640 acres (260 ha) of land they purchased for $800 from the federal government at $1.25 per acre.^[11] The local Ojibwa named the settlement kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, after the sound of Allen's sawmill.^[17]

Ann Arbor became the seat of Washtenaw County in 1827^[18] and was incorporated as a village in 1833.^[19] The Ann Arbor Land Company, a group of speculators, set aside 40 acres (16 ha) of undeveloped land and offered it to the state of Michigan as the site of the state capitol, but lost the bid to Lansing. In 1837, the property was accepted instead as the site of the University of Michigan.^[20]

Since the university's establishment in the city in 1837, the histories of the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor have been closely linked.^[21] The town became a regional transportation hub in 1839 with the arrival of the Michigan Central Railroad, and a north–south railway connecting Ann Arbor to Toledo and other markets to the south was established in 1878.^[22] Throughout the 1840s and the 1850s settlers continued to come to Ann Arbor. While the earlier settlers were primarily of British ancestry, the newer settlers also consisted of Germans, Irish,^[23] and Black people.^[24] In 1851, Ann Arbor was chartered as a city,^[25] though the city showed a drop in population during the Depression of 1873.^[22] It was not until the early 1880s that Ann Arbor again saw robust growth,^[26] with new immigrants from Greece, Italy, Russia, and Poland.

20th century

Ann Arbor saw increased growth in manufacturing, particularly in milling.^[27] Ann Arbor's Jewish community also grew after the turn of the 20th century, and its first and oldest synagogue, Beth Israel Congregation, was established in 1916.^[28]

In 1960, Ann Arbor voters approved a $2.3 million bond issue to build the current city hall, which was designed by architect Alden B. Dow. The City Hall opened in 1963. In 1995, the building was renamed the Guy C. Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building in honor of the longtime city administrator who championed the building's construction.^[29]

During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as an important center for liberal politics. Ann Arbor also became a locus for left-wing activism and anti-Vietnam War movement, as well as the student movement. The first major meetings of the national left-wing campus group Students for a Democratic Society took place in Ann Arbor in 1960; in 1965, the city was home to the first U.S. teach-in against the Vietnam War.^[30] During the ensuing 15 years, many countercultural and New Left enterprises sprang up and developed large constituencies within the city.^[31] These influences washed into municipal politics during the early and mid-1970s when three members of the Human Rights Party (HRP) won city council seats on the strength of the student vote. During their time on the council, HRP representatives fought for measures including pioneering antidiscrimination ordinances, measures decriminalizing marijuana possession, and a rent-control ordinance;^[32] many of these progressive organizations remain in effect today in modified form.

Two religious-conservative institutions were created in Ann Arbor; the Word of God (established in 1967), a charismatic inter-denominational movement;^[28] and the Thomas More Law Center (established in 1999).^[33]

Since 1998, Ann Arbor is also the home office of the Anthroposophical Society in the United States, an organization dedicated to supporting the community of those interested in the inner path of schooling known as anthroposophy, developed by Rudolf Steiner.

Following a 1956 vote, the city of East Ann Arbor merged with Ann Arbor to encompass the eastern sections of the city.^[34]

21st century

In the past several decades, Ann Arbor has grappled with the effects of sharply rising land values, gentrification, and urban sprawl stretching into outlying countryside.^[35] On November 4, 2003, voters approved a greenbelt plan under which the city government bought development rights on agricultural parcels of land adjacent to Ann Arbor to preserve them from sprawling development.^[36] Since then, a vociferous local debate has hinged on how and whether to accommodate and guide development within city limits.^[37] Ann Arbor consistently ranks in the "top places to live" lists published by various mainstream media outlets every year^{[citation needed]}.

In 2016, the city changed mayoral terms from two years to four.^[38] Until 2017, City Council held annual elections in which half of the seats (one from each ward) were elected to 2-year terms. These elections were staggered, with each ward having one of its seats up for election in odd years and its other seat up for election in even years.^[39] Beginning in 2018 the city council has had staggered elections to 4-year terms in even years. This means that half of the members (one from each ward) are elected in presidential election years, while the other half are elected in mid-term election years.^[39] To facilitate this change in scheduling, the 2017 election elected members to terms that lasted 3-years.^[39]

In 2020, partly as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city government opened several downtown streets to pedestrians, limiting their use by motor vehicles to emergency vehicles during summertime weekends. In addition to providing a large pedestrian mall, these changes allow restaurants to use more of the sidewalks and part of the street for outdoor seating.^[40] These changes were popular enough that in 2021 the city council extended the dates from March to November, continuing the schedule of cordoning off cars from Thursday evening until Monday morning.^[41][42]

Geography

Ann Arbor is located along the Huron River, which flows southeast through the city on its way to Lake Erie. It is the central core of the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of the whole of Washtenaw County, but is also a part of the Metro Detroit Combined Statistical Area designated by the U.S. Census Bureau.^[43] While it borders only Townships, the built-up nature of the sections of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti townships between Ann Arbor and the city of Ypsilanti make the two effectively a single urban area.^[44][45]

Landscape

The landscape of Ann Arbor consists of hills and valleys, with the terrain becoming steeper near the Huron River. The elevation ranges from about 750 feet (230 m) along the Huron River to 1,015 feet (309 m) on the city's west side, near the intersection of Maple Road and Pauline Blvd.^[46] Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, which is south of the city at 42°13.38′N 83°44.74′W / 42.22300°N 83.74567°W / 42.22300; -83.74567, has an elevation of 839 feet (256 m).^[47]

Ann Arbor is nicknamed "Tree Town", both due to its name and to the dense forestation of its parks and residential areas. The city contains more than 50,000 trees along its streets and an equal number in parks.^[48] In recent years, the emerald ash borer has destroyed many of the city's approximately 10,500 ash trees.^[49] The city contains 157 municipal parks ranging from small neighborhood green spots to large recreation areas. Several large city parks and a university park border sections of the Huron River.^[50] Fuller Recreation Area, near the University Hospital complex, contains sports fields, pedestrian and bike paths, and swimming pools. The Nichols Arboretum, owned by the University of Michigan, is a 123-acre (50 ha) arboretum that contains hundreds of plant and tree species. It is on the city's east side, near the university's Central Campus.^[51] Located across the Huron River just beyond the university's North Campus is the university's Matthaei Botanical Gardens, which contains 300 acres of gardens and a large tropical conservatory as well as a wildflower garden specializing in the vegetation of the southern Great Lakes Region.

Cityscape

The cityscape of Ann Arbor is heavily influenced by the University of Michigan, with 22% of downtown and 9.4% of the total land owned by the university.^[52][53]

Downtown

The downtown Central Campus contains some of the oldest extant structures in the city — including the President's House, built in 1840 — and separates the South University District from the other three downtown commercial districts.^[54][55] These other three districts, Kerrytown, State Street, and Main Street are contiguous near the northwestern corner of the university.^[56]

Major landmarks in downtown Ann Arbor include the Michigan Theater, The Diag, and Tower Plaza, Ann Arbor's tallest building. Downtown is also home to several Fairy Doors and other public art installations.

Downtown Ann Arbor is a frequent host of many large events, including the award-winning Ann Arbor Art Fairs. These events are often accompanied by the conversion of many downtown streets to pedestrian malls. In 2021 the city council launched a social district downtown, allowing visitors to carry alcoholic beverages between different businesses in the district.^[57]

Other areas

Three commercial areas south of downtown include the areas near I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Briarwood Mall, and the South Industrial area. Other commercial areas include the Arborland/Washtenaw Avenue and Packard Road merchants on the east side, the Plymouth Road area in the northeast, and the Westgate/West Stadium areas on the west side.^[58] Downtown contains a mix of 19th- and early-20th-century structures and modern-style buildings, as well as a farmers' market in the Kerrytown district.^[59] The city's commercial districts are composed mostly of two- to four-story structures, although downtown and the area near Briarwood Mall contain a small number of high-rise buildings.^[60]

Ann Arbor's residential neighborhoods contain architectural styles ranging from classic 19th- and early 20th-century designs to ranch-style houses. Among these homes are a number of kit houses built in the early 20th century. Contemporary-style houses are farther from the downtown district.^[58] Surrounding the University of Michigan campus are houses and apartment complexes occupied primarily by student renters. Tower Plaza, a 26-story condominium building located between the University of Michigan campus and downtown, is the tallest building in Ann Arbor.^[61] The 19th-century buildings and streetscape of the Old West Side neighborhood have been preserved virtually intact; in 1972, the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and it is further protected by city ordinances and a nonprofit preservation group.^[62]

Climate

Ann Arbor has a typically Midwestern humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), which is influenced by the Great Lakes. There are four distinct seasons: winters are cold and snowy, with average highs around 34 °F (1 °C). Summers are warm to hot and humid, with average highs around 81 °F (27 °C) and with slightly more precipitation. Spring and autumn are transitional between the two. The area experiences lake effect weather, primarily in the form of increased cloudiness during late fall and early winter.^[63] The monthly daily average temperature in July is 72.6 °F (22.6 °C), while the same figure for January is 24.5 °F (−4.2 °C). Temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on 10 days,^[64] and drop to or below 0 °F (−18 °C) on 4.6 nights.^[64] Precipitation tends to be the heaviest during the summer months, but most frequent during winter. Snowfall, which normally occurs from November to April but occasionally starts in October, averages 58 inches (147 cm) per season. The lowest recorded temperature was −23 °F (−31 °C) on February 11, 1885, and the highest recorded temperature was 105 °F (41 °C) on July 24, 1934.^[64]