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
is home to the University of Michigan
, which moved from Detroit
to Ann Arbor
in 1837; it is the dominant institution of higher learning in the
city. The university shapes Ann Arbor's economy
significantly as it employs about 38,000 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.
History
Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by land speculators
John Allen and
Elisha Rumsey. On May 25, 1824, the town
plat was registered with Wayne County as
"Annarbour"; this represents the earliest known use of the town's
name. There are various accounts concerning the origin of the
settlement's name; one states that Allen and Rumsey decided to name
it for their spouses, both named Ann, and for the stands of
burr oak in the of land they purchased for
$800 from the federal government. Regional Michigan
Ojibwa named the settlement
kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, after the sound of Allen's
sawmill.
Ann Arbor became the seat of Washtenaw County in 1827, and was
incorporated as a village in 1833.
The Ann Arbor Land Company, a group of
speculators, set aside of undeveloped land and offered it to the
state of Michigan as the site of the state capital, but lost the
bid to Lansing
.
In 1837,
the property was accepted instead as the site of the University of
Michigan
. The town became a regional transportation
hub in 1839 with the arrival of the
Michigan Central Railroad, and in
1851 Ann Arbor was chartered as a city.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as an
important center for liberal politics. Presidential candidate
John F. Kennedy unveiled his
Peace Corps proposal in 1960 at the
University of Michigan, and President
Lyndon B. Johnson first called for a "
Great Society" as the university's
commencement speaker in 1964. The city also became a locus for
left-wing activism and served as a hub for the
civil-rights movement 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. During the ensuing fifteen years, many
countercultural and
New
Left enterprises sprang up and developed large constituencies
within the city.

South University Avenue caters to
young people.
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; many of these remain in
effect in modified form. Alongside these liberal and left-wing
efforts, a small group of conservative institutions were born in
Ann Arbor. These include
Word of
God (established in 1967), a charismatic inter-denominational
movement of national scope; and the
Thomas More Law Center (established
in 1999), a leading religious-conservative advocacy group.
Ann Arbor consistently ranks in the "top places to live" lists
published by various mainstream media outlets every year. In 2008,
it was ranked 27th out of 100 "America's best small cities." 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. On November 4, 2003, voters approved a
greenbelt plan under which the city government
bought development rights to pieces of land adjacent to Ann Arbor
to preserve them from sprawling development. Since then, a
vociferous local debate has hinged on how and whether to
accommodate and guide development within city limits.
Geography and cityscape

Ann Arbor's many trees are the result
of a reforestation campaign in the early 20th century.
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has an area of ; is land and or
2.43% is water, much of which is part of the
Huron River.
Ann Arbor is about
west of Detroit
.
Ann Arbor
Charter Township
adjoins the city's north and east sides. Ann
Arbor is situated on the
Huron
River in a productive agricultural and fruit-growing region.
The landscape of Ann Arbor consists of hills and valleys, with the
terrain becoming steeper near the Huron River. The elevation ranges
from about along the Huron River to over on the city's west side,
near
I-94. Generally, the west-central and
northwestern parts of the city and UM's North Campus are the
highest parts of the city; the lowest parts are along the Huron
River and in the southeast. Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, which is
south of the city at , has an elevation of .
Ann Arbor's "Tree Town" nickname stems from 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. In
recent years, the
emerald ash
borer has destroyed many of the city's approximately 10,500
ash trees. 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. Fuller Recreation Area, near
the
University
Hospital complex, contains sports fields, pedestrian and
bike paths, and swimming pools.
Nichols
Arboretum
, operated by
the University of
Michigan
(and known locally as "The Arboretum" or simply
"The Arb"), is a preserve that contains hundreds of plant and tree
species. It is on the city's east side, near the
university's central campus.

Washington Street, towards Main
Street
The Kerrytown Shops, Main Street Business District, the State
Street Business District, and the South University Business
District are commercial areas in downtown Ann Arbor.
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.
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.
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.
Ann Arbor's residential neighborhoods contain architectural styles
ranging from classic 19th-century and early-20th-century designs to
ranch-style houses.
Contemporary-style houses are farther from the downtown district.
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. 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, and it is further protected by city ordinances
and a nonprofit preservation group.

Ann Arbor skyline as seen from
Michigan Stadium
Climate
Ann Arbor
typically has a Midwestern
humid continental seasonal
climate, which is influenced by the Great Lakes
. There are four distinct seasons; winters
are cold with moderate snowfall, while summers can be warm and
humid. The area experiences
lake effect
weather, primarily in the form of increased cloudiness during late
fall and early winter. The highest average temperature is in July:
, while the lowest average temperature is in January: . Summer
temperatures can exceed , and winter temperatures can drop well
below . Average monthly precipitation ranges from , with the
heaviest occurring during the summer months. Snowfall, which
normally occurs from November to April, ranges from per month. The
highest recorded temperature was on July 24, 1934, and the lowest
recorded temperature was on January 19, 1994.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 114,024
people, 45,693 households, and 21,704 families residing in the
city. The
population density was
4,221.1 people per square mile (1,629.9/km²).
There were 47,218
housing units at an average density of 1,748.0 per square mile
(675.0/km²), making it less dense than inner-ring Detroit
suburbs like Oak Park
and Ferndale
(and than Detroit proper), but denser than
outer-ring suburbs like Livonia
. The racial makeup of the city was 74.68%
White, 8.83%
Black or
African American, 0.29%
Native
American, 11.90%
Asian, 0.04%
Pacific
Islander, 1.21% from
other races,
and 3.05% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any
race were 3.34% of the population. 14.9% were of
German, 8.5%
English
and 7.9%
Irish ancestry according to
Census 2000. 80.6% spoke English, 3.2%
Chinese or
Mandarin, 3.1%
Spanish, 1.9%
Korean, 1.2%
German, 1.1%
Japanese and 1.0%
French as their first language. Because of
the pull of the university, the city has one of the highest
foreign-born population percentages in the state sitting at
16.6%.
Out of the 45,693 households, 23.0% had children under the age of
18 living with them, 37.8% were married couples living together,
7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 52.5%
were nonfamilies. 35.5% of households were made up of individuals
and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was
2.90. The age distribution was 16.8% under 18, 26.8% from 18 to 24,
31.2% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% were 65 or
older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there
were 97.7 males; while for every 100 females age 18 and over, there
were 96.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,299, and the
median income for a family was $71,293 (these figures had risen to
$51,232 and $82,293 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had
a median income of $48,880 versus $36,561 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$26,419. About 4.6% of families and 16.6% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 7.3%
of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.
Ann Arbor's crime rate was below the national average in 2000. The
violent crime rate was further below the national average than the
property crime rate; they were 48% and 11% less,
respectively.
Economy
The University of Michigan shapes Ann Arbor's economy
significantly. It employs about 30,000 workers, including about
7,500 in the medical center. Other employers are drawn to the area
by the university's research and development money, and by its
graduates.
High tech, health services and
biotechnology are other major
components of the city's economy; numerous medical offices,
laboratories, and associated companies are located in the city.
Automobile manufacturers, such
as
General Motors and
Visteon, also employ residents.

Nickels Arcade interior, looking
towards the east
Many high-tech companies are located in the city. During the 1980s,
Ann Arbor Terminals manufactured a video-display terminal called
the Ann Arbor Ambassador. Other high-tech companies in the area
include Arbor Networks (provider of Internet traffic engineering
and security systems),
Arbortext (provider
of XML-based publishing software),
JSTOR (the
digital scholarly journal archive), MediaSpan (provider of software
and online services for the media industries), and
ProQuest, which includes
UMI.
Websites and online media companies in or near the city include
All Media Guide, the
Weather Underground,
and
Zattoo. Ann Arbor is also the site of the
Michigan Information Technology Center (MITC), whose offices house
Internet2 and the Merit Network, a
not-for-profit research and education computer network. The city is
home to the headquarters of Google's
AdWords
program—the company's primary revenue stream.
Pfizer, once the city's second largest
employer, operated a large pharmaceutical research facility on the
northeast side of Ann Arbor. On January 22, 2007, Pfizer announced
it would close operations in Ann Arbor by the end of 2008. The
facility was previously operated by Warner-Lambert and, before
that, Parke-Davis. In December 2008, the University of Michigan
Board of Regents approved the purchase of the facilities, and the
university anticipates hiring 2,000 researchers and staff during
the next 10 years. The city is the home of other research and
engineering centers, including those of
General Dynamics and the
National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Other research centers
sited in the city are the
United States
Environmental Protection Agency's National Vehicle and Fuel
Emissions Laboratory and the
Toyota Technical
Center. The city is also home to
NSF International, the nonprofit
non-governmental organization that develops what are considered the
generally accepted standards for a variety of public health related
industries and subject areas.
Borders Books, originally a two-room
shop upstairs above 211 South State, was opened in 1969 with a
stock of used books by brothers Tom and Louis Borders. The Borders
chain is still based in the city, as is its flagship store.
Domino's Pizza's headquarters is near
Ann Arbor on Domino's Farms, a
Frank
Lloyd Wright-inspired complex just northeast of the city.
Another Ann Arbor-based company is
Zingerman's Delicatessen, which serves
sandwiches, and has developed businesses under a variety of brand
names. Zingerman's has grown into a family of companies which
offers a variety of products (bake shop, mail order, creamery) and
services (business education). Flint Ink Corp., another Ann
Arbor-based company, was the world's largest privately held ink
manufacturer until it was acquired by Stuttgart-based XSYS Print
Solutions in October 2005. AvFuel, a nationwide supplier of
aviation fuels and services, is also headquartered in Ann
Arbor.
Many
cooperative enterprises were
founded in the city; among those that remain are the People's Food
Co-op and the
Inter-Cooperative
Council at the University of Michigan, a student-housing
cooperative founded in 1937. The
North American Students
of Cooperation (NASCO) is an international association of
cooperatives headquartered in Ann Arbor. There are also three
cohousing communities—
Sunward, Great Oak, and Touchstone—located
immediately to the west of the city limits.
Culture
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
Theatre, which operates a downtown theater and frequently
offers 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 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 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 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. Another
is the
Ann Arbor Film
Festival, held during the third week of March, which receives
more than 2,500 submissions annually from more than 40 countries
and serves as one of a handful of Academy Award–qualifying
festivals in the United States. 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.

East Liberty Street
Ann Arbor has a major scene for college sports, notably at the
University of Michigan, a member of the
Big Ten Conference.
Several well-known
college sports facilities exist in the city, including Michigan
Stadium
, the second largest American football stadium in the world
with a 106,201 seating capacity. The stadium is colloquially
known as "The Big House."
Crisler Arena
and Yost Ice Arena
play host to the school's basketball and ice hockey
teams, respectively. Concordia
University, a member of the
NAIA, also
fields sports teams.
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.
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 of a
location, often with the
academic
degree MI, a misunderstanding of the abbreviation for
Michigan.
Media
The
Ann Arbor News, owned by
the Michigan-based
Booth Newspapers
chain, was the major daily newspaper serving Ann Arbor and the rest
of Washtenaw County; the newspaper ended its 174-year print run on
July 23, 2009, due to economic difficulties, and has been replaced
by
AnnArbor.com, which has a bi-weekly
print operation, in addition to its website. Other established
publications in the city include the
Ann Arbor Observer, a monthly
magazine with features covering local culture, politics, family
life, business and history, as well as a comprehensive calendar of
events;
Current, an entertainment guide; the
Communicator, a local high school paper; and
Ann Arbor
Paper, a free monthly that has ceased production. The
University of Michigan campus area is served by many student
publications, including the independent
Michigan Daily. The
Ann Arbor Business Review
covers local business in the area. The
Ann Arbor Chronicle
is an online newspaper that covers local news, including meetings
of the library board, county commission, and DDA.
Car and Driver magazine and
Automobile Magazine are also based
in Ann Arbor.
Four
major AM radio stations based in or near Ann Arbor are
WAAM
1600, a news and talk station; WLBY
1290, an
Air America Radio affiliate;
WDEO 990, Catholic radio; and WTKA
1050, which
is primarily a sports station. The city's FM stations include NPR affiliate WUOM
91.7;
country station WWWW
102.9;
adult-alternative station WQKL
107.1. Freeform station WCBN-FM
88.3 is a local community radio station operated by
the students of the University of Michigan
featuring noncommercial, eclectic music and
public-affairs programming. The city is also served by
public and commercial radio broadcasters in Ypsilanti, the
Lansing/Jackson area, Detroit, Windsor, and Toledo.
WPXD
channel 31,
an affiliate of the ION Television
network, is licensed to the city. Community Television
Network (CTN) is a city-provided cable television channel with
production facilities open to city residents and nonprofit
organizations.
Detroit
and Toledo-area radio and television stations also serve Ann Arbor,
and stations from Lansing and Windsor, Ontario, can be heard in
parts of the area.
Law and government

The Guy C.
Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building houses the city hall and police
station
Ann Arbor has a
Council-manager form of
government. The mayor, who is elected every even-numbered year, is
the presiding officer of the City Council and has the power to
appoint all Council committee members as well as board and
commission members, with the approval of the City Council. The
mayor of Ann Arbor is
John Hieftje
(
Democrat), who has
served in that capacity since the 2000 election. The city council
has ten members, two from each of the city's five wards, with the
mayor wielding the tie-breaking vote. Council members serve
two-year terms; half the council is elected in annual elections.
City operations are managed by the
City Administrator, who is chosen by the
city council.
Ann Arbor is in the 15th Congressional district, and is represented
by Representative
John Dingell
(Democrat). On the state level, the city is in the 18th district in
the
Michigan Senate. In the
Michigan State House of
Representatives, the city of Ann Arbor is in the 53rd district,
while northeastern Ann Arbor and Ann Arbor Township are in the 52nd
district.
As the seat of Washtenaw
County
, the city is the location of the county's trial,
civil, and criminal courts. Ann Arbor is the site of a
United States district
court for the
Eastern District of Michigan courthouse.
Politics
Left-wing politics have been particularly strong in municipal
government since the 1960s. Voters also approved charter amendments
that have
lessened
the penalties for possession of marijuana (1974), and that aim
to protect access to
abortion in the city
should it ever become illegal in the State of Michigan (1990). In
1974,
Kathy Kozachenko's victory in
an Ann Arbor city-council race made her the country's first openly
homosexual candidate to win public
office. In 1975, Ann Arbor became the first U.S. city to use
instant-runoff voting for a
mayoral race. Adopted through a ballot initiative sponsored by the
local
Human Rights
Party, which feared a splintering of the liberal vote, the
process was repealed in 1976 after use in only one election. As of
August 2009,
Democrats hold the
mayorship and all council seats.
Education
Higher education

Rackham School of Graduate Studies,
University of Michigan
The
University of
Michigan
is the dominant institution of higher learning in
Ann Arbor, providing the city with a distinct college-town atmosphere. Much of the
campus is adjacent to and intermixed with the city's downtown
district. Because the campus and the city expanded side-by-side,
there is often no firm divide between the two, with university
buildings scattered through much of the city center.
Other
local colleges and universities are Concordia University, Ann
Arbor, a Lutheran liberal-arts institution, a campus of the
University of Phoenix, and
Cleary University, a private
business school headquartered in Howell, Michigan
but with a campus in Ann Arbor; Washtenaw Community College is
located in neighbouring Superior Charter Township
; and Eastern Michigan University
is in the nearby City of Ypsilanti
. Ann Arbor was once home to
Ave Maria School of Law, a Roman
Catholic law school established by
Domino's Pizza founder
Tom Monaghan. Opened near northeastern Ann
Arbor in 2000, the law school moved to southwest Florida in 2009.
Thomas M. Cooley Law School has acquired
the law school buildings for a branch campus.
Primary and secondary schools
The
Ann Arbor Public School
District handles local public education.
The system—which
enrolls 16,974 students (2005–2006 September head count)—consists
of twenty-one elementary schools,
five middle schools, three traditional high schools (Pioneer
, Huron, and Skyline
), and three alternative high schools (Community High,
Stone School, and Roberto Clemente). The district also
operates a K-8 open school program, Ann Arbor Open, out of the
former Mack School. This program is open to all families who live
within the district. Ann Arbor Public Schools also operates a
preschool and family center, with programs starting as early as
birth for at-risk infants and other programs for at-risk children
before
kindergarten. The district has a
preschool center with both free and tuition-based programs for
preschoolers in the district.
Ann Arbor is home to more than 20 private schools, including the
Rudolf Steiner School
of Ann Arbor,
Clonlara School
and
Greenhills School, a prep
school near Concordia University. The city is also home to several
charter schools. One such school is Washtenaw Technical Middle
College, a school where students earn an associate's degree at
Washtenaw Community College and a high school diploma at the same
time.
Health and utilities
The
University of
Michigan Medical Center, the preeminent health facility in the
city, took the No.14 slot in
U.S. News and World Report for
best hospitals in the U.S., as of August 2009. The University of
Michigan Health System (UMHS) includes University Hospital, C.S.
Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital in its core complex.
UMHS also operates out-patient clinics and facilities throughout
the city.
The area's other major medical centers
include a large facility operated by the Department of Veterans
Affairs
in Ann Arbor, and Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in
nearby Superior Township
.
The city provides sewage disposal and water supply services, with
water coming from the
Huron
River and groundwater sources. There are two
water-treatment plants, one main and
three outlying
reservoirs, four
pump stations, and two
water towers. These facilities serve the city,
which is divided into five water districts. The city's water
department also operates four
dams along the
Huron River, two of which provide
hydroelectric power. The city also
offers waste management services, with Recycle Ann Arbor's handling
recycling service. Other utilities are provided by private
entities.
Electrical power and
gas are provided by
DTE Energy.
AT&T, the
successor to
Michigan Bell,
Ameritech, and
SBC
Communications, is the primary wired telephone service provider
for the area.
Cable TV service is
primarily provided by
Comcast.
Transportation
Surface roads
The city is belted by three
freeways:
I-94, which runs along the
southern portion of the city;
US 23, which primarily runs along
the eastern edge of Ann Arbor; and
M-14, which runs along the northern
edge of the city. Other nearby
highways
include
US 12,
M-17, and
M-153.
The streets in downtown Ann Arbor conform to a grid pattern, though
this pattern is less common in the surrounding areas. Major roads
branch out from the downtown district like spokes on a wheel to the
highways surrounding the city. Several of the major surface
arteries lead to the I-94/M-14 juncture in the west, US 23 in the
east, and the city's southern areas. The city also has a system of
bike routes and
paths
and includes a section of the planned Washtenaw County
Border-to-Border Trail.
Bus service

An AATA bus, with the blue-roofed
Blake Transit Center in the background.
The
Ann Arbor
Transportation Authority (AATA), which brands itself as "The
Ride", operates public bus services throughout
Ann Arbor and nearby Ypsilanti
. AATA has recently introduced
hybrid electric buses to its fleet
of 69 and is the first public transit operator in the Midwest to
state its intention to convert to all hybrid electric buses. A
separate
zero-fare bus service operates
within the University of Michigan campuses, and the AATA ran a free
Link Bus connecting central campus and downtown during the
school year until August 20, 2009.
A downtown bus depot served by
Greyhound
Lines provides out-of-town bus service, and is the city's only
remaining example of the
Streamline
Moderne architectural style.
Megabus has twice daily direct
service to Chicago,
Illinois
, while a bus service provided by Amtrak connects to East Lansing
and Toledo,
Ohio
, though only for rail passengers making
connections. The Michigan
Flyer, a service operated by Indian Trails, offers bus service
to Detroit
Metro Airport
, Jackson
, and East
Lansing
.
Airports
Ann Arbor
Municipal Airport
is a small general
aviation airport located south of I-94. Detroit Metropolitan Airport
, the area's large international airport, is about east
of the city, in Romulus
. Willow Run Airport
east of the city near Ypsilanti
serves freight, corporate, and general aviation
clients.
Railroads
The city
was a major rail hub, notably for freight traffic between Toledo
and ports north of Chicago, Illinois
, from 1878 to 1982; however, the Ann Arbor Railroad also sold
1.1 million passenger tickets in 1913. The city was also
served by the
Michigan Central
Railroad starting in 1837.
Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
Street Railway, Michigan's first
interurban, served the city from 1891 to
1929.
Amtrak provides service to Ann Arbor, operating its
Wolverine three times
daily in each direction between Chicago and Pontiac
, via Detroit
. Rail service is provided at the Ann Arbor
Train Station
; the present-day station neighbors the city's old
Michigan Central Depot, which was renovated as a restaurant in
1969. There have been plans to build a
commuter rail link between Ann Arbor
and Detroit, with the U.S. federal government providing
$100 million to enable its development.
A more
recent plan, called "Wally",
to provide passenger rail service between Howell
and Ann Arbor starting in the summer of 2007 has
been delayed for at least a year.
Sister cities
Ann Arbor has seven
sister
cities:
See also
References
- Ann Arbor city, Michigan, 2005–2007 American
Community Survey 3-Year Estimates, United States Census Bureau
- "Vile Gossip", Jean Jennings, Automobile Magazine,
November, 2007
- Ann Arbor City Council Minutes, November 6, 2003
Further reading
External links