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| Ann Arbor Apartment Locator Services : Ann Arbor Apartments |  | Contents | |
| History |
| Ann Arbor was founded by settlers from various
Eastern states in January 1824. The original founders were John
Allen (from Virginia) and Elisha Rumsey (from New York). Their
wives' names were both Ann (in the latter case, either Ann Rumsey
or Ana Rumsey, depending on what text you consult), and Allen
and Rumsey decided to name the settlement "Annarbour,"
for their spouses (after discarding the alternative names Allensville
and Anapolis) and for the stands of burr oak in the 640 acres
(2.6 km²) of land they had purchased for $800 from the
federal government. The Indians of the region knew the settlement
as Kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, after the sound of Allen's grist mill.
Rumsey died in 1827; Allen eventually became the town's postmaster,
newspaper publisher, village president, and all-around promoter.
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| Several mills, a tannery, and a general store flourished in
the settlement. The general store (or tavern, depending on which
source you accept) was painted bright red and the corner on
which it was established (Huron and Main) became known as Bloody
Corners. In 1836, Ann Arbor lost a bid to be established as
the state capital. |
| However, in 1837, Ann Arbor won a bid to be the
new site for the University of Michigan when it offered forty
acres (160,000 m²) of land free for the site. The Michigan
Central Railroad arrived in 1839, making the town a major regional
transportation hub. |
| Ann Arbor became the seat of Washtenaw County in 1827, was
incorporated in 1833, and was chartered in 1851, which was also
the year that John Allen died. The town became home first to
large numbers of German immigrants (particularly from the state
of Württemberg) and escapees from the Great Irish Famine,
though Canadians accounted for the largest percentage of immigrants
to the town during most of the 1800s. |
| During World War I, Germans became targets of animosity because
of their alleged sympathy for the German state, and four professors
in the University's German department were dismissed because
of what were alleged by the regents to be an "excess"
of faculty in the department. During World War II, Ford Motor
Company's nearby Willow Run plant turned out B-24 Liberator
bombers and the population of Ann Arbor exploded with an influx
of miltary personnel, war workers, and their families. |
| In 1960, Ann Arbor was the site of major speeches by both
major presidential candidates, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
Kennedy outlined his proposal for what would become the Peace
Corps on the front steps of the Michigan Union on October 14,
1960. On May 22, 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson unveiled his Great
Society initiative during a University of Michigan commencement
address. |
| During the 1960s, Ann Arbor became a locus for both the American
civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. It
was the site of the first major meetings of Students for a Democratic
Society in 1960. After a number of protests and an extensive
public campaign, the city passed its first fair housing ordinance
in 1963.
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| In June 1969, students and protesters took over portions of
South University Avenue over the course of three days of protests
and rioting. However, the police, drawn from many surrounding
communities, and many with their names and badges covered up,
took back the streets with the use of tear gas, police dogs
and the threat of firearms. Between 1972 and 1976, the city
council went through a period in which members of the Human
Rights Party were elected and fought for several measures that
at the time seemed radical, including an ordinance reducing
penalties for possession of marijuana and a rent control ordinance.
In 1973, Kathy Kozachenko was elected to the Ann Arbor city
council and became the first openly gay candidate to run successfully
for elected office in the United States.
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| Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Ann Arbor was home to many
influential rock bands, such as the MC5, Iggy Pop, Brownsville
Station, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Mitch Ryder,
and The Rationals. Madonna was a dance major at the University
of Michigan in the late seventies.
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| Four years after leaving the White House, Gerald R. Ford –
a former student and college football player at Michigan –
opened his Presidential Library in Ann Arbor. (His Museum is
located in Grand Rapids, Michigan).
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| The economy of Ann Arbor underwent a gradual shift from manufacturing
base to a service and technology base over the course of the
20th century, a shift which accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s.
As of 1999, Ann Arbor was home to 25 research centers and libraries.
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| During the same period, land values have increased and the
city has gentrified. Some long-time residents have been driven
out by high prices.
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| On 2 November 2004, a proposition to legalize
medical marijuana was passed by a margin approaching 75% to
25%. Though Michigan's state government quickly declared the
law void, possession of marijuana for personal use has been
essentially decriminalized in Ann Arbor for three decades, punishable
only by a $50 fine and no criminal record (although the somewhat
harsher state law applies to possession on university property). |
| The same day, voters approved a Greenbelt plan: the city government
would buy up large swaths of land bordering Ann Arbor to prevent
sprawling development. Since then, local debate has hinged on
whether (and how) to accommodate development within city limits.
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