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PICTORIAL
HISTORY
OF ANN ARBOR
1824-1974

J. Fraser Cocks, III, General Editor
Cathy Abernathy
William H. McNitt
Thomas E. Powers
Mary Jo Pugh
Kenneth P. Scheffel
Robert M. Warner
Michigan Historical Collections/Bentley Historical Library
Ann Arbor Sesquicentennial Committee
Architectural
Library
574
.A6
M62
Published as part of the sesquicentennial celebration of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michigan Historical Collections/Bentley Historical Library
Ann Arbor Sesquicentennial Committee
1974
© copyright 1974, Michigan Historical Collections, The University of Michigan
ARCH.
ARCH
ULRICH
7-1-24
10601917-200
Table of Contents
V
1
17
33
53
A Note of Appreciation
Robert M. Warner
1824-1859
Robert M. Warner
1860-1879
Thomas E. Powers
1880-1899
William H. McNitt
1900-1919
Mary Jo Pugh
1920-1929
Kenneth P. Scheffel
1930-1939
Cathy Abernathy
1940-1974
J. Fraser Cocks, III
Bibliographical Note
Photo Credits
73
91
113
141
142
iii
+
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A Note of Appreciation
The Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Histori-
cal Library, is pleased to present this pictorial history of
Ann Arbor as a contribution to the city's 150th Anniver-
sary. The book was a cooperative project from the very
beginning and all of us who did the writing and picture
selection are greatly indebted to a number of people.
Many of the pictures revealing Ann Arbor between
1930 and the present came from the photographic
archives of the Ann Arbor News. This splendid file of
Ann Arbor photographs has been collected and main-
tained for nearly 40 years by Mr. Eck Stanger; without
this resource our book could not have been compiled.
Moreover, Mr. Stanger himself developed the working
copies of very nearly 100 pictures we considered for
inclusion.
Two other photographers concerned for local Ann
Arbor history also cooperated generously with us. Mr.
Sam Sturgis freely made available his personal archive
of Ann Arbor photographs and contributed many sig-
nificant reprints which appear in these pages. Mr. Her-
bert Pfabe, Sr., allowed us to research his private collec-
tion of photographs he has taken of landmarks in the
Ann Arbor area.
The over-all direction for the entire project was the
responsibility of J. Fraser Cocks III, assistant director of
the Michigan Historical Collections. Without his skillful
coordination of the project and his editorial guidance,
the book would not have materialized.
All the writers acknowledge their indebtedness for
suggestions and help to a wide variety of persons. Par-
ticularly useful suggestions and materials came from
Wystan Stevens, Russell Bidlack, and Lela Duff. Miss
Duff, in fact, read the entire text of the manuscript and
made many helpful suggestions of fact and interpreta-
tion. Many careful hours of editorial assistance and
proofreading were contributed by Jane B. Warner. The
design and layout of this volume is the work of Douglas
Hesseltine and John Hamilton of the University of
Michigan Publications Office. Gertrude Drouyor and
Laura Tenhunen carefully typed the many drafts of the
text.
Mrs. Hazel Proctor, president of the Washtenaw His-
torical Society, secured the funds necessary for printing
and distribution. Also extremely helpful in facilitating
publication was Douglas Crary, chairman of the Ses-
quicentennial committee. Essential to the funding of the
project was the Fred and Edith Heusel Fund of the
Michigan Historical Collections.
For all of this splendid help, we are most grateful.
Robert M. Warner
Director, Michigan Historical Collections
V
1859
FC8I
G
1
1824-1859
On a warm summer day in 1831, Lucy Morgan, a bit
homesick for her native Connecticut, took time out
from the daily chores of pioneer life to recount in a letter
to her family the events of the ten months since she had
last seen them. She and her husband Elijah had moved
to the new frontier village of Ann Arbor right after their
marriage. After nearly a year of residence, they were
established citizens in a town only seven years old. At
first they lived in a one and a half story, four-room
house, a part of which they sublet to the village's leading
doctor. In May of 1831 they moved to a new four-room
house with a barn and a larger garden for which they
paid fifty dollars a year rent—“the cheapest rent in the
village”—and they sublet the barn for twelve and a half
a
cents a week. Lucy complained that with all the new
people coming to town, renters were being exploited. A
neighbor had to pay seventy-five cents a week for a
much smaller house than hers. Other prices were high
too. “Every kind of provision is very high here," she
wrote, "flour seven dollars an[d] a half a barrel and all
other things in proportion. A farmer may grow rich as
fast as he pleases.
The village had advantages, however. Since it “still
(had) an abundance of old bachelors left,” Mrs. Morgan
could report that all the young ladies who had come
visiting had found husbands. Other visitors to Ann
Arbor were Indians who came almost daily to trade
deerskins, venison, and berries. Mrs. Morgan had found
buckskin moccasins more comfortable than shoes and
wished her mother could have a pair.
Though a little lonely, Lucy Morgan was comfortably
settled in the town and had become a staunch booster
of the territory of Michigan and the village of Ann Arbor.
“Indeed,” she wrote, “it is the general opinion that
there is no better land than is to be found in Michigan. I
do not feel as if I should willingly return either to Ohio,
New York or Connecticut to live. It is so much pleas-
anter here.”
An Ann Arbor historian, writing ninety years later,
claimed that the founders and first settlers of the village
were an unusually energetic and talented group of peo-
ple. Perhaps they were, but many other American
towns make the same claim. The founding of the village
of Ann Arbor was a part of an established American
pattern and occurred at a time other towns were taking
shape on the Michigan frontier.
By comparison to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,
Michigan was something of a “late bloomer” among
the states of the old Northwest. With premature op-
timism, some Michigan citizens had convinced Con-
gress that the area should become a territory in 1805.
Many confidently expected a substantial tide of settlers
to follow. The movement failed to materialize.
The War of 1812 came along and Michigan found
itself both a battlefield and an occupied territory. The
future state emerged from the war with William Hull, the
territorial governor, discredited and its primitive
economy in disarray. Military outposts were scattered
throughout the territory, but only Detroit, the capital,
could call itself a village.
The conflict did produce one good result, however.
Lewis Cass, a young Ohio attorney who had fought in
Michigan during the war, was named the new governor.
He held the post from 1813 to 1831, longer than any
other territorial governor in American history. Lewis
Cass, flaccid-jowled and potbellied, idealistic yet practi-
cal, enlightened yet narrowly chauvinistic, was a maker
of modern America. He became Michigan's greatest
booster. He never failed to promote the state and ag-
gressively took steps to foster its settlement. He
negotiated treaties with the Indians, explored the territ-
ory, opened land offices, and encouraged social and
economic development.
Culture and education were not neglected. The
Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania, was es-
tablished in Detroit in 1817. Presbyterian clergyman
John Monteith was its first president and Father Gabriel
Richard, later territorial delegate to Congress, its first
vice-president. Little did they know that twenty years
later the successor of their fledgling enterprise would be
established in a village forty-five miles west and would
play a major role in shaping its history.
The years 1817-18 were particularly important as the
territory slowly emerged from the doldrums of the late
war. In addition to the founding of the state's first uni-
versity, the Detroit Gazette, Michigan's first newspaper,
was founded. Motivated by self-interest as well as hon-
est conviction, it became a strong booster of all things
Michigan. One bright August day in 1818, the pictures-
que Walk in the Water, the first steamship on the Great
Lakes, appeared in Detroit and ushered in a new and
more reliable means of transportation. Wholesale set-
tlement of the peninsula would soon begin.
By the 1820 census, the territory had a population of
8,896, an increase of 4,134 over the previous decade.
Though this growth could hardly be characterized as of
major significance, it indicated that the long-expected
tide of settlers was beginning and would make Michigan
in the next three decades one of the fastest growing
areas in the country.
Who were these first settlers and why did they come?
Many were native Americans; others, immigrants who
had lived some time in the United States. They came
mostly from New England and particularly upstate New
York, though there was a scattering of settlers from the
South and nearby Ohio. Most of them came to better
themselves economically, to find good farm land and
business opportunities. Some aggressive entrepreneurs
saw the frontier as an area in which to make a large
amount of money quickly in land speculation.
One of these entrepreneurs was John Allen, a young
man of twenty-eight who stood over six feet tall, was
2
1824-1859
"well-proportioned” and “physically a very grand
specimen of a man.” He and Elisha Walker Rumsey
were to be Ann Arbor's founders. Allen was from an
old, well-established, though not aristrocratic, Virginia
family. He married well at age nineteen, but less than
four years later found himself a widower with two chil-
a
dren. Two years later he married a young widow, Ann
Isabella McCue. John was cheerful, carefree, and ad-
venturesome; Ann was religious, somewhat melan-
choly, and interested in security and the amenities of
gracious living. John was ideally suited to be a pioneer,
Ann was not. One other difference marked the couple:
though both were native Virginians, Ann had great
upon the hardly novel scheme of using the cash he had
on hand to found a town in the West and sell off lots for
quick return. Success of such a scheme depended on
the attractiveness of the site selected, its potential for
future growth, and luck.
From Baltimore, John went to Buffalo, New York, a
gateway town to the West. He stayed for two months
looking for an associate before he moved on to Detroit
in January 1824. Here he met Elisha Rumsey from
Genesee County, New York. Though ten years older
than Allen, he apparently was not the moving force
behind the venture. Rumsey, from an old New England
family, was on his second visit to Michigan when he met
Allen. He, too, was escaping financial difficulties as well
as gossip about his second wife, Mary Ann, with whom
he lived before marriage.
After discussing prospects with Detroit leaders, Allen
and Rumsey decided on the area west of Detroit. They
took a one-horse sleigh and headed through February
snow into the newly created county of Washtenaw. By
the twelfth they had returned to Detroit to register their
claims at the U. S. Land Office. Allen bought 480 acres
for $600, Rumsey 160 acres for $200.
These speculators chose their site well, but what
virtually assured the permanency of the town was a
fortuitous political decision. The commissioners, ap-
pointed by Governor Cass to select a site for the county
seat, chose Allen and Rumsey's tract, and Cass sup-
ported their decision.
By March the first structure had been erected in the
new town—“a good framed house" at the present-day
site of Huron and First streets. The Rumseys lived there
and entertained prospective land purchasers. The town
plot was registered in Wayne County on May 25, 1824.
The registration contains the earliest known use of the
town's unique name—"Annarbour." Much folklore
has grown up about the name but Russell Bidlack's
account makes clear that the “Ann" honors the wives of
the two founders and “Arbor” most probably refers to a
grove or the shady "oak openings” found in Michigan
woods.
Allen and Rumsey began to advertise their new town
in the Detroit newspaper on June 1, 1824. A contem-
porary account noted that about 100 lots had been
sold, several houses were under construction, two saw
mills were operating, and a grist mill was soon to be
built. By fall “a number of new frame buildings” had
been constructed. After a two-month journey, Ann
Allen joined her husband on October 24, 1824, and
occupied a small, two-room block house containing a
fireplace and cooking stove.
As the town became known, and as transportation
improved, Ann Arbor grew faster. A year after the
founding Allen himself could report the settlement had
between thirty and forty families; mills were started and

John Allen
affection for the South and its values. John was not so
inclined to cherish Virginia. Though a slave owner, he
ultimately came to disapprove vigorously of this op-
pressive feature of southern society.
As was the case with so many pioneers, what per-
suaded Allen to seek a new future on the American
frontier was largely economic necessity. Through faulty
investment, his once prosperous father fell deeply into
debt. John assumed much of the indebtedness but was
unable to solve all the financial problems. In the fall of
1823, he left his home with a herd of cattle to sell in
Baltimore. He never returned, and there is reason to
believe he left unpaid debts. To recoup his losses, he hit
3
1824-1859
farming was under way. A diarist passing through in the
summer of 1827 noted that there were three inns such
as they are, four stores, two tanneries, two blacksmith
shops, and about twenty dwelling houses.” But there
were losses too. Elisha Rumsey died in 1827. His widow
later remarried and moved to Indiana.
Besides buildings, John Allen and the pioneer settlers
of the village were constructing much more important
things—the social, educational, religious, political, and
economic foundations for the settlement. It is remarka-
ble how soon the cultural institutions were established
and how vigorous they proved to be.
school. Miss Monroe, the first teacher, died in 1829. Her
successor, Harriet G. Parsons, moved the school into a
frame house on the corner of Washington Street and
Fifth Avenue in 1829. Miss Parsons later married Lorrin
Mills, a tailor who built the first brick house in town.
These pioneer schools were not supported by public
funds but by rate bills and other assessments levied on
the parents of the children. Public schools were not
even authorized until 1830, and it was some years
before tax money began to support education. Conse-
quently, many of Ann Arbor's boys and girls did not
attend school. In 1832, the average attendance was
only 35 out of a possible 161 children five to fifteen
years old.

For secondary education a whole variety of private
schools were established beginning with the Merrill
Brothers' school in 1829—"a select school... for teach-
ing higher English and Latin and Greek.” Some were
more prosperous than others. One of the most success-
ful, and the private school with the longest history, was
the Misses Clark School for young ladies. It was estab-
lished in 1839 by three well-educated sisters from New
York. They operated the school until the death of Mary,
the senior partner, in 1875.
A unified public school system emerged slowly.
Those citizens who lived across the Huron River in
"Lower Town," which existed until 1861 as a separate
village, maintained their own school system up to that
time. In Ann Arbor teachers in the "aristocratic" north
district were paid $224 per year, those in the south $90
until the two districts agreed to build a union school.
When the Union School opened in 1856, it was the
finest building in the city with an assembly room which
could hold 700. Moreover, it was the most expensive
school in Michigan on one of the largest sites.
The Union School far outshone in grandeur and
landscaping the campus of The University of Michigan,
which by action of the legislature was permanently
located in Ann Arbor in 1837. The coming of the Uni-
versity undoubtedly was the single most important
event in Ann Arbor's development. Its founding deter-
mined much of the subsequent history of the commu-
nity.
A land company of five leading citizens purchased
200 acres of farm land east of State Street and gave 40
acres of it as an inducement for the fledgling school to
locate here. Its first buildings, imposing by frontier stan-
dards, were four professors' houses and University
Building (later called Mason Hall), which opened in
1841. Its first class graduated in 1845. A medical de-
partment was added to the literary department in 1850;
law followed in 1859. From 1837 onward, the history of
the University and that of Ann Arbor have been in-
separable and interdependent. There emerged a feeling
of creative tension that usually was congenial, or at least
tolerant, only occasionally slipping into hostility.
Ann Allen
Ann Arbor was scarcely a year old in September
1825 when a Miss Monroe opened a primary school in a
log school house. Allen had erected the building on his
property at the northwest corner of Main and Ann
streets. It was just across from what would be court-
house square, then serving as Allen's vegetable patch. It
was a crude building with small glass windows and split
log benches.
We know of little more than the existence of this first
4
1824-1859
Ann Arbor's first residents were actively establishing
other social foundations besides schools. A group of
villagers began a library in 1827, which by 1830 had
100 volumes. In 1831, twenty-eight Ann Arborites
joined the Lyceum, the purpose of which was "the
cultivation of science and knowledge by members on
subjects chosen by themselves, the collection of books
and apparatus, and specimens of Natural History."
Drama was introduced in 1837 when the Ann Arbor
Thespian Society presented “Pizarro or the Death of
Rollo," a tragedy plus "a comic song" and a "laughable
pantomime of the Sportsman.” The first professional
theatrical group came in January 1849 when the Na-
number to form a congregation until the twentieth cen-
tury.
The churches, too, served the purpose of providing
places for public events. The Presbyterian Church, for
example, was the site on November 10-11, 1836, of the
founding meeting of the Michigan State Anti-Slavery
Society. Seventy-five delegates representing Oakland,
Wayne, Washtenaw, Lenawee, Livingston, Kala-
mazoo, and St. Joseph counties plus four visiting dele-
gates from Ohio met, elected officers, adopted a con-
stitution, and passed resolutions espousing the cause of
abolition and supporting the free Blacks in their drive to
win the ballot in Michigan and to gain improved educa-

ATTENTION!
INDIGNATION MEETING

SIDID RIDSS
OF THE CARRIER OF THE
SIGNAL OF LIBERTY.
JANUARY 1, 1849
The Citizens of Ann Arbor, are reques-
ted to meet at the Court House this eve-
ning, at 6 o'clock, to take into considera-
tion the conduct of the FACULTY of the Univer
sity of Michigan, in Expelling all the Students be-
longing to Secret Societies!
December 20, 1849. MANY CITIZENS.
L
VIL
When the bottonie, w mitaigha lour,
Brestbe there the man, with wale vilely bors.
Tweety tempestuota ride und ging waves Whs to be moster will the leve betyt
Plough the dark min, berekening vao lour, Saltardy free, of New England race,
And es gold or fury rave
The Liberty for olyrai put
Turing the deathe eye.
Theit scele, peight ancestors disgrace.
Auch with cara the well know XAL" Lright And help the msn-felis liet design
Cibetke tallmast, the border
noir minds at every one teating room,
To catch the first plat glimmering en besight,
Show how their site to Task Incline,
rast skinus through all the store with oiled light. And prove that day are his, by faring in the crimel
IL.
VII.
Bit on the terms ocks, the SIGNAL"stande,
Roire the strings to your endem
Unelanged a place, ces from afara
Their need relies, their every stead;
From night to hit Lirigens all the strade
It wait yaorle were you waiged to
Wittig divat the polar
D'er all the earth war, a single friendly
Nirugla, totsware,
Tscher you through the lonely wildernen!
Cansaght diminish of its clica
This how the Savior bide you them receive
There will be feat death o ave.
The powest brethren wie die beste profesi
The consoles solsith which these teams
In listening bed they may less
s, fecus a greedy grannered livres rodeera. And thus at last, a eros of endlere le clueve!
TIL
IX
Boshimce und let it shine,
Nie there alone yaar kindecare demands
Bred ca stins find strang:
Este your thought to the Cape wsiles
O jorddal rights the gift wivine,
Tajuk low te bem, csineilly week wedband,
Wish locals, party lines.
Ia bag presseurs past huis.
O'er all the land le Freedom's liglet extend,
Youx Represcalatisca seo the entit,
Through the thick darkest le ray spear
Your PT and TED, WO DERECE gruve;
Kraping tu di w... the street.
They are thing fit the dati's right,
Expayers and and the big real. Orror try dir 'n toever
Our wana corial wishes far New YEAR!
Slucholda' toweri sera la tuore than they ran brane!
IV
Ilaw ny rarion art of mortal fata
R.bake the sterty their cowardice:
Oer within the space of each brief scari
Tell them out land is now the beach.co's winti!
Some are with oury late
A hund of slaver, a by-word and a bu
While othersked with anche unceasing tear. The sourn and wary of Aneering eri!
live yet band, how busply rated of late,
Rebule them by your independent ute,
For Alrescos, the poing MONDE BAND
Ne, by your drage rating theitshme:
Slaves o no, harlek jy olite
Pracown to every ne, bear or remote
Their saisty cases peuples breze funned, No servde candidates will you mustain, (ras
Swifi per te daaring wave, boy water stive land. But who know their riglus, snd koowing, DARE WALA
V.
XL
By Potomac wave, or Misipid
Norbe your tangu ta polis mafined;
Where the wave been shoppio rod; Med for itin sva with the church wails:
Where Christeners take the price
Ruke foolist the imple mind,
Pools that were purchasedly that of God; Bierery Orecisa hear where alle
in wretched cars levelet the earth,
Let every church in restaureoke
Since the last circle of the region
Anleme pessor finns red doors,
trung và Nam 4 ví de by ra,
NEW Dalla portske
Euthey want to rear walinden Botthondant les plures
Islotecindog food to run Tullamcrey ile bagloghi restored
tional Theatre of Detroit performed the "Lady of
Lyons” and the musical farce, “A Loan of a Lover.”
Though many of these early cultural efforts survived for
only a short period, they laid the foundations for later
permanent institutions.
One of the first was the church. The initial clergymen
were itinerants, like Methodist John H. Boughman to
whom John Allen opened his home for services in the
fall of 1825. In 1826 the Presbyterians met to form a
congregation in the log school house Allen had built.
The Episcopal congregation was organized in 1827. By
1831 Lucy Morgan could report in her letter home that
the Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Bap-
tists all held regular meetings “upon the Sabbath” and
all had “very good preachers.” She admitted, however,
that frontier Ann Arbor was “like almost all places that
grow up suddenly—not distinguished for morality.
Other Protestant denominations came into the vil-
lage reflecting new doctrinal contributions or new ethnic
settlements. The first Catholics settled in Northfield
Township, Washtenaw County, in 1831. Not until 1835
did they hold regular services in Ann Arbor and it was
another decade before a church building, a brick struc-
ture and the largest in town, was erected. Though a few
Jews appeared in the 1840's, they were too few in
haren onsentras way
Tirkond sampe cure atrod by can,
Where tonight also results of prey,
Hello porcinehe erhati
Wol teadist they fought happy Moute,
Wera Biwili renale ridit,
Dorpile fanst,dian
Pogry, for those theit mighet,
And fun startengestanding
Bebren preced: labir, dil undry
And the
way pos;
At the lateu cork proving day,
Seray bear for the right
Shall the darknemerland depart,
Anke carteis para ser by year;
Nontol Nathall bear a part
In dersingget, ring fest,
When I'roon nang san in glory shall appear!
UU
tional opportunities. The meeting also called for the
creation of an abolitionist press in Michigan. This senti-
ment led directly to the establishment of the Michigan
Freeman in Jackson, which in 1841 moved to Ann
Arbor and became the famous Signal of Liberty, edited
by Guy Beckley and Theodore Foster.
The Signal was not the first newspaper in Ann Arbor.
The village was scarcely five years old when the
Westem Emigrant began publishing under the editor-
5
1824-1859
the 1840's and '50's with minor modification reflecting
better transportation, more affluence and greater de-
mand for luxury goods. Block and Abel's offered not
only school books, but "classical works" as well. H.
Schlack advertised a confectionery store in 1845 and D.
Tyler announced in 1845 that he had been appointed
Ann Arbor agent for “Beal's Hair Restorative which will
effectually restore a luxuriant growth of Hair to Bald
Heads...." Music was sold by 1843, and Mrs. E. S.
1
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41
Blacje i
ship of Thomas Simpson. After only five issues, he was
bought out by Samuel W. Dexter and John Allen, who
made the paper a strong opponent of Masonry, a con-
troversial issue of the time. The paper had no competi-
tion until the Michigan Argus was established in Feb-
ruary 1835. Other papers followed, often printed to
reflect the feelings of various political parties. But there
were also attempts to publish humor and satire, such as
B’hoy's Eagle published in 1849.
The newspapers were a major factor in all phases of
the community, but especially in the business and pro-
fessional life of Ann Arbor. From the first issue, physi-
cians and lawyers placed their notices in the paper. As
the town grew, they were joined by other professionals.
In 1836, an itinerant named G. W. Smith, probably the
town's first dentist, told all citizens that he would “re-
move diseased teeth and fangs with the greatest possi-
ble ease, and insert Silicious, Metalic [sic] and other
artificial teeth in the most durable manner.
The first businesses naturally were those that met the
immediate needs of a frontier settlement. In the early
1830's there was S. Cook's saddlery, which noted that
hides and deerskins were as good as cash. Barter was
common on the frontier where money was scarce.
Brown and Co. Flour Mill operated on the Huron.
George Prussia advertised his tannery and his availabil-
ity as a shoe and boot maker. Three general stores
offered groceries, hardware, crockery, medicines, and
“buffalo robes." Detroit and Ypsilanti firms also adver-
tised in Ann Arbor papers.
By the middle '30's business was expanding, the
economic outlook was bright, and citizens were talking
of bringing the railroad into town. Also, the business
community became more diverse and the available
goods more sophisticated. To be sure, firms like Dennis
and Goodspeed still sold nails, scythes, spades, shovels,
saws, gates, and general hardware, and there was John
White's rifle shop. But, now there was also Mills and
Irish clothing store offering “ready made clothes.” Mc-
Kinney and Davidson had opened a brick kiln and
Reuben Moore in Lower Ann Arbor offered luxury
items like “Boston style Hats.” D. W. and C. Bliss
opened a jewelry store in 1837 and E. P. Dwight started
a book store. There was an Ann Arbor brewery oper-
ated by Bandwell and Brown. The Bank of Ann Arbor
and the Bank of Washtenaw were chartered. Typical of
frontier financial institutions, the Bank of Washtenaw
issued its own beautifully engraved notes to reduce the
currency shortage. Like most Michigan banks, it failed
in the years following the Panic of 1837. Undoubtedly,
the climax of business activity in the '30's came on
October 17, 1839, when to the accompaniment of
fanfare and speeches, the first train steamed into town
and linked Ann Arbor with Ypsilanti and Detroit.
The pattern of business set in the 1830's continued in

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Ferri dhe Wege in tutte le
THREE
THRE
3
3
.
Rawson advertised “fancy goods” from New York and
"hesitates not to say that her hats, flowers and ribbons
surpass anything heretofore offered in this vicinity, both
in newness of style and richness of materials.
In 1843 Christian Eberbach “thoroughly educated
as a chemist and apothecary in Germany” opened his
own drug business. A confidential credit rating for 1845
noted that he was “a very prudent, economical and
industrious man... who lives very economically and will
continue to save after the true German fashion.
6
1824-1859
The '40's saw the beginning of another traditional
Ann Arbor business, the boarding house catering to
students. A. Hickcox told Ann Arborites that "he has
taken the house on Huron Street, recently occupied by
John Allen, Esq., which he opened as a Boarding
House... Students at the University will be accommo-
dated with board at his house upon as reasonable terms
as elsewhere.”
Besides starting businesses, building schools, and
ORDINANCES.
No. 1.
AN ORDINANCE TO PREVENT HOGS FROM RUNNING
AT LARGE.
Be i Ordained by the Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen of the City of Am
Arbor
SECTION 1. That it shall not be lawful for any swino, hogo,
shoats or pigs to go at large within the limits of the City of Ann
Arbor; and if any swine, bogs, shoats or pigs shall be found running
at large within the limits of said City, it shall be lawful for any
person, and it shall be the duty of the Marshal of said City, to
drive the same to pound within said City, or cause the same to be
so driven; and for driving the same to pound as aforesaid, the Mar-
shal, or any person employed for that purpose by him, shall be en.
titled to receive the sum of ten cents for each bog, shoat or pig so
driven to pound.
Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Marshal to provide a suitable
pound within said City for all such animals as may be driven to
pound under the provisions of any ordinance of the
Common Coun-
oil, and to receive and safely keep such animals therein until the
provisions of the ordinance under which they were impounded shall
have been complied with. And it shall be lawful for said Marshal
to demand and receive as his fee for taking in and discharging
every, hog, shoat or pig, six cents; which fee, together with the fees
of driving such animals to pound, and the reasonable charges for
keeping and feeding the same therein, not exceeding twelve and .
hall cents per day for each animal, shall be paid to the Marshal by
the owner thereoi, or some other person for him, before such animal
shall be released from said pound, and if the owner of any such ani.
mal impounded as aforesaid shall not pay the fees for impounding,
In 1851 Ann Arbor was incorporated as a city with its
first charter and an elected mayor. These first decades
had seen both a steady growth of population and
changes in its composition. The first census of 1830
showed 973 persons in the six-year-old village. Most of
the settlers were of British ancestry and, like most of the
newcomers flowing into the territory, came from New
England and New York. Ann Arbor had a very youthful
population. There were only twenty-six persons fifty
years of age or older. Among these pioneer Ann Arbor-
ites was the five-member Jacob Hardy family, probably
the town's first Black family.
Settlers continued to come into Ann Arbor in the
1840's and 1850's. The population in 1845 reached
3,030. Ann Arbor was becoming more diversified. The
1845 census showed a liberal sprinkling of German
names and a few Irish. And the Black community grew,
too, but slowly. By 1845 it consisted of thirty-nine
persons—twenty-three males and sixteen females.
Not all Ann Arborites welcomed the newcomers. The
1840's and '50's saw a flourishing of anti-immigration
and anti-Catholic sentiments in the county. Some of the
town's citizens formed the “Native American Associa-
tion of Ann Arbor” advocating a tax on incoming
foreigners, a twenty-one-year residence requirement
for naturalization, and a “certificate of good moral
character” for entering aliens.
By the time of the state census of 1854, Ann Arbor
could no longer be classed as a frontier settlement. It
was a flourishing community of 3,339 people with a
well-established University that had graduated a dozen
classes. The school had 244 students and a faculty of
17, led by a new and energetic president, Henry P.
Tappan, who came to town in 1852 intent on transform-
ing the provincial college into a national leader in higher
education. The town still sported a youthful population.
There were 1,437 males under forty-five years of age;
1,440 of the females were under forty years of age. Of
these two groups, 724 were children under ten. The
Black community had decreased slightly and now
numbered thirty-four. There were no blind persons,
only one deaf-mute, and three insane persons in the
village. The town still had a rural air about it; Ann Arbor
town dwellers raised 1,805 bushels of corn, owned 198
horses, 277 cattle, 4 oxen, 371 sheep, and 62 pigs.
Capital in the amount of $97,000 was invested in the
city's manufacturing establishment which employed
349 workers.
Still living in the town was Lucy Morgan, now in the
prime of life. Her husband had become one of the
town's leading citizens. But of greater significance, Mrs.
Morgan was well on her way to earning a modest per-
sonal fortune in real estate. Her success paralleled the
city's in its first three decades.
erecting churches, Ann Arborites also established the
political and governmental foundation for the future.
The cornerstone for the courthouse was laid June 19,
1833, and the next month the village was organized
with John Allen as president. Problems of government
were relatively simple. The necessary ordinances were
passed opposing “games of chance” and pigs in the
streets.
But there were momentous events, too. In Sep-
tember 1836 the little courthouse served as the site of
an abortive convention which rejected the United
States Congress' proposal that Michigan give up Toledo
in exchange for the Upper Peninsula in order to win
statehood. The same building served as the site for
another group of delegates in the Frostbitten Conven-
tion" which in December 1836 reversed the decision of
the first convention and paved the way for Michigan's
admission to the Union in January 1837.
7
1824-1859

E
УГААР
MICHIGAN
WITH MRT BY THRAINING #TATEN
PT YIELD S. TODD
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WHTKUN
AN
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Tar
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WoW
1824 Map of Michigan
T
min ve
am ashen minigen
Jasper Cropsey Drawing, "On the Huron”
8
1824-1859
!

WESTERN
EMIGRANT.
PLURTOUT
BY THOMAS SIMPSON.
[Publisher of the Lains of this Territory.]
WASHTENAW, MICHIGAN.
1
AMARDOOR. WIDITE DAXDRO. 13. 1329,
ITD. IT
NEI STORE
See.. Thul very suctiesrer duly chandise and feets, castrich duty
TERYS.
TOUN ALLEN CO. the career
LAWS OF MICHIGAN vinted and suberard hy virtuelltid sa aforesaid. undet iba prosty st
Tallers yeur, in dance-
holin noytherinn er ty in the any dollars for each ones web raid
of Maia asd Haron Streets, have a
terrary shall within the rear before lim pesalties may really be recovered by
TAR dure au fost the end of hand, and intend keeping a general Passed at the Seesand Session of the ited, teeder a like neroul to the use any perece su u prosecute for too
the years
assorbent of
Third Council
the busty count is the county in which was in any curl having cognars of
Matscribe if wat of the Territo
och are alle andre likha by action of tebt or informa
79. syarat aleas in .
Dry goods, Groceries,
this bedministered by much clerk, then the one moiety of each peaby,
advertising-Oar dollar sonuty.
ANACT. to provide the contre of other who is serphy wetherited to administrabearensed to be paid into the sun
Hurd-ware, Crockery, of Aartiere, and to levy ny ap. die mod subsectiorer with trial treatory, and the other moiety to
ir la for each square for the first Stone-ware, Paints,
e Rains af sin retain case
in the time tu rester pythen the per she shall tow for the same
Erited by the I Can
three weeks, and type cesta for
Window-glass, Putty,
hypothals eers of war to the Preiled, s, that much time
Each subsequent basertion.
el of the Tritory of Waige. That restorer of this entory, and deliver much is employ his cu partent or his sterk
Subscribers receiving this papers by
Dye-stulls, Lamp-oil.
the pure de loisteries the ceremenant, with the bed cath andnud to hold rueh watin arredoe, case of
the territory,
but the wire threon, to the editor of the truritory is inability to attend freon sickorld
mida pay the postage:
Ploughs, Plough-castings, and cement of the Lorghe Cowell. To further test every weloner to which the person so seting stroll for the
Advertisemeals at acrespaolved by Hollow-waro, Nails,
all appoint a mung peppepo ured, the moke ne ke alam do by him.lab the sta preerib
thancer dur a than
fections will be esate satis orderd
Irae end Steel
to lo con
della de axl fat auch and at the
To whity, an the one in inan
but, ad crew collig
not to
to extend waia of the story see using a sarrasid. ill make he reparated was unable to stand for the
Also, Ladies and Gentlemans geld countles in the territory, who cath of the fact before the said yer, reem afervold,
Tremulation directed to the
editor, sabe postpaid.
sboes and boots, &se.
shall be therehere for the term of us corder, or clerk of the county cour See. 12 That sery kartinest she
years. Provides that it chall be compete av be, and shall recoFyll receive or arceptos higher er for
Tary. produce, tak i pyet
Just Received, ient further roeren th ter Wory of such sta to the editor's efter, with the reward for his series in the si
futhi Eruntif delincered.
any time on torehole and deter in the tee Rinite for arcounting in case of any grede, wares, reading up of
A quantity of domestic Clothu mine the common of any cutioner of sles.
fech, which shall be committed to be
ppointed: Provided why that no aue
TANNERY. and mel, of the best quality. timorer shall rappoined by vietos al neglect or lose to render his arcouet, per tent, la vale to which the said their
Bee. 6. That sy metioneer shall care, than at the rate of the end half
of they will on the this have or money der the , or dects by himse.
THE subscribers respectfuly begs most reasonable terms, for call or bra utiled with the treat, and patients for the dating recording to law, wally bald hailamente la
up all wearaten dhe the ritory,
leave to inform their customers, and produce.
or to make a prescribed in and by in Agterent be made in svitlog by
Sre. 4. That the commission of all the fourth setinn of this art, the editor sub auctioneer for higher and further
the public in general, that they will N. B. The highest price will be someone who are sau la adier shall of the terriinny shall. in every rach w Ward, ball forfeit the sum of siny dale
pay the highest price fr,
paid for Hydes, Bees-was, nad tal de resince the maint-Grat day crufs nad model mochilot or refusal fare for every such aftenee, to be recotele
of Docraber best
HIDES & SKINS.
In some pishie
wparer of this lenitory dia te toe of the United States, for
low
Sees. That so to lapo baas the time of publishing such d-theus of the territory of Michigan, on
They have now and intend keep-
Ann Arbor, No 16 103
pelated an actionner be sise of this themret. very sweb delinquenter der the direction of the suditer of this
act, shall rnier upon the resetine histoire hall be deemed to have forfeited territory, before any can having cograd
ing sa bawl, a supply of
SELDOT SOROOL,
lie, atil be shall have eterolina a his appeatment and shall be there Rere of the same
SOLEÅ UPPER LEITIIER.
wrogres -- Es disqualled from arting a sucer
For youu Gentlemen and La the of the territory of Michigan with under the same, and cery suel person quilty of any fraud ordered in the sera
Rec. 18. That if any person shall ha
Also Byote and Shoes, which they dies in Ann Arbor village.
those more suferat freakers are
will exchange, for Hydes, Skius,
olting or refsing shall be for us of the art or in cladieg or defealing
Bok, Waeal, Com, Bees-wat and
Branches of study-Reading them in the wine then dollers, very wel eens forfelt abundred the worst thereof, every much peror
conditioned for the payment of the dusty Gallery, which fortitude the inditerskelsboll, en canviction thereule forfeitand
pelling, mental aritmetic, modern derrina fler meningen betrerer reti district Attorney to the enunty pay the sum of two hundred and a
Tflow.
They also stand ready to accom: $2.50 per quarter-iueluding writ- shall in at ibings, well, truby nad Nithful toeste bevard for and recovered. in bv bence, the restered by any person who
geography and English grammar, at the teritory, so when the art prin nicht seinen ball de dollars penalty for any such of
odate their customers, in tanning
Hjes on shares.
ing, practical Arithmetie, anciratge-Solare woda
Borao biegareer star of the United States, for the we will cor for the same in the founder ofere
From a long experience and strictography, bitury, philosophy, chyen done to be true intentang of his of the territory of Michigan. In toy court said, the oat moisty burrot, whea res
istry, logie, astronomy, the higher Dendaces of War, shall be
ets which region, la therity of teard having regolace there rovered to be for the use of a per
attention to business, they hope to brearbes of the mathematics, compo- kro buy the mayor er racerlor of the cold chandise and Deves sowvet, which the territorial and
See. 7. The all ads waren, men en and the asher melody to be paid late
mreita liberal share of pablie pel sition and derlawation at 83,00 city and in the other creatina af his for shall set any time beraber becaused
Bre, ill. That if no pensan shall, with
G. & C. PRUSIA.
including the Latin and Greek lasit, by the clerk of the county text plesation et vendor withio lo ven days Per any Bence shall be
under the direction of two judies of this torty, by way action of other cimited gslost this act. proberete for
guages $4,50.
a trboxr, Dec. 2, 1829.
curt to the centymeti peduly ppointed and authorised the posities there in mentionell
The instructors pledge themselves wide, we duplicates will be made this act directed, shall be strek w lewfol for the auditor of the territory
New Firm to take a lively inuent in their po- The per loting the apar, herver due in the county of Wayan trity where such ubrore shall be comandata
of the trend of every reageel the highest bidders that we ta dire the district attorney is the cou.
Se
ART. CAP. L. RAWLEY, pils, advancementin kanslestge, in shall be delivered
toy be to of Detroit, is the falloping duties to a la procreate for the stars which prody,
edhe ato the
that they have erected a listillery in and by a general superinteadence, shall borealord by the per king the land the sale for wbi me come tall be treasury of the territory.
og de to store te paktes god batiner med male dependent
the vicinity of Ann Arbour, which regarding the intellectual, physical enginees and our retinent band, and tw dollars old wang other See. This art shall take rret
will be in operation by the first of and moral welfare of those committee other fets by way of pailler section after the tube vide for any rear of les text, und als ad parts of acts coming
shall soll wyprus wars murebadhe eronty within the territory, and and free and after the Airst day of January
D. aber best. Where they will sd te twir care, while at their board vendor, without being restored into um to be paid by the paren who shall within the purview of this ac be and be
keep rontsutly on hand, a superior ing houses as well as at their school therance and well forleit soll be come and is al am Were the see by repeated, reserving a
quality of reclied whiskey, which roum, they hope to merit, us well the roman dollar burrach article asetserr. er en af vor god plahtelat burrecrurd under way sh
they all low, as can be pur- receive, the patroange of parents district attorney in the near fb Un by mr. berri ball be the sot brea pasado
pard to take to be died for by the expand to wear any persoa Foployd aet, in the HOT it this set bygd
cused ia the Territory, by the yalanul cuardians.
Ied States, for the use of the territory of highest Sidder the said goods shall be ab Approved. Nov. 1820.
Loa ar barrel, for each
Boarding may be obtained for Michigan, la soy court reglerne jest to the payment of the same duties
LEW. CASE.
theo
# If they be told to say other
A. EDWARDS
Whikey exchanged for grain, ou $1.00 per week.
See. That every tirer duly pro
Select clincl books as he appointed author and into the
President of the legislat Corneil.
ral terus
That if any person or person
Frana a loag experience and strict aimed at the school depository at the ed in and for the city of Detroit.
" so appointed de vahed in the met AN ACT, in an end. anat in edition to the
ciog ta bostaess, they hope to
lowest prices
shell sell any fonds, warehartig buy this art directed, wer by or under the pets to divide the several coustics in
e it a share of public patronage.
The first parter will commence or efects. torpe books and prints wat vvthority of the United States, salt seller This territory is township, and for
on Monday thr 234 lost.
prohibited by law.) ar pilde sortian or wttempt to well any
gunde wares were other purpo
bas, S. 18. 12.
T. W. MERRILL, A. M.
value, shall, within twenty days for disse effects whatsorat, by sy of
De teeneted by the Leislarier Cow
the rxpiration of
Lateurustor in the scale and
erythraibe, the publie uction of tradue within this to all of the Territory of Michigan. That
MORTGAGE SALE.
the
del considered alty all the part of the county of an oowa
date of the monitorrald, mediator, todo O, be
whether yofibra
wynat of money N. H.
with interest thereon, serored by an
MOSES MERRILL,
salseried by sim. to the winyod
odred dollars, or imprisoned for me not rodead ibe north ball of township
eander of the clof Drtrait of all grande reeding a moth, or leth, in the dis numbered seves south. lo ang sistema
lo dentare of Mortgage, recated on Lale teacher in a select school, Alba. wares, marrheads or forts by him the court before whom such sest la townhip, by the neer of Pos
the twentieth day of December in the ny N. Y.
As fireside from the time of lievelionas place
in and the first township meeting
gear of our Lord one thousand eight
NB. Preparatory scholars in the time the last ceannt was by hier und steloos to this territory of kies, in end townships that all that part
terlog into the wengine wersaldo See. That land and trapments shall be held at the house of Bldwin den
hondeed and twenty ribi, by Deer reading anal pelling will be adwit- dered and the month of each ofted States, and all goods and cats the county Casonate
in White to Cororlios Ousterkont, of ted at 83.00.
dere le mal the days when the web which shall be oried by any put fel skipaumbird fee and sind the north
the following tractor parcel of Land
Ann Arbor, No. 18. 1818.
per distinguishing the fier for at oprenant of any fortville township whered a rolle.
siteye Iving and bring in the county
Arirles voll und shall then take a penalty goede anderers of drie marge wurobur Bren west, shall be
of Warwand Territory of Mi-
Iu for the recorder, the crased pertand sold be assecutor township by the name of La Grand
NOTICE
oing other ration, the pareminister or goods distr.cord for the best waship. meeting u be held
chuigua "onit, The Fast ball of the
TOTICE hereby gives that the way I.A. B. das demais din top inkee in exrition, et olin at the loue of lase Shwart, i sid
west quarter of section thirty No
undervigsed bəs born appointed polycar, for affirm that the wenan solvent debtors my ather Der er to skip that that part of said cour
three in town two sooth, range is administrator on the estate of Nanowhited by me, and te hich I have things specially thered to bered by one to this for med sit, and
east and briog part of the same land thaniel Brundage, late of the town.trrevent at all the renderes mer
wherhed my sme cantaje de law
of this teptury thesis wise the north Calf of fonship sumberede
he subject bare hereby empted son south, in ranges thirtera aed broren
deeded by the said Corneliome Ous ship of Ann Arbour, in the county of rbarie, and her to sold, wurksed declared free from the dungi west, and the way of Van Burrs and
trehnat na bis wife to the said Das Washienae and M-rigen Territory, Torfunebre et ta ndugu
at the cosy lying Dub sfihe same
jef White, by deed bearing date the deceased.
Islam, within the time the Sret. That grede, wares which is uched to denpaspor,
tweaty third day of June eighteen
sercat, and of the days mpon which marcha.liels stores of the totales shall beste
He sherefore requests, all per- three were respectively told, and the copt heke bor polars of probleed by Mopy by the some of Pron, and the first
brored and twenty seven, and con- sons indelated to said estate, 10 I have attended such male permally od which will be exposed to be a pari wasip moeting duslibe told at the
thig rigluty seres be the same make immeriste payment; and those have examined the entries of such tollie streticae valorhy any zestione ester of Martin Sbirdito, io said to
more or less.
having chans against said esiste, to in the book kunt by that super stard reording to or direction and that all that part of the county of
Notice is therefore, herby given present thua for adjustment.
and know there to be in sit respect the chall be so exposed to be sa person as the with Waliotussipeam
correct. Anderen och setioner shall day, butyeessarier and sonst opan pintu bered trees and fractional township
that by sirtue of a power of sale
Benjn. Sutton, with ten dys the rendering of haters acheter she shall set membed.ight south in ranges nun.
contained insid Mortgage, audia
Administrator
wel account and taking said nath pay carry theo shall for such aner. thirren, fourtee, here and were
presence of the Statute in such case
the month dots of such recrual bento bare forfeited his app iot uratowship, by the same of Ont.
An Arbor, Nor. 16. 1.
made and provided, the said Mort
of wales to the treaturer of the territory, mesi, od shall thereafter he disqalibre the art lowuhip merling
and the scene with the oth endorsed fra vetions weteneer met the same held at the house of Ema Beardsley
od premises will be sold at peb-
WANTED
and the recipe for the pot of the Br. 11. That te soeter widtownship.
hic et or vendne, on the tenth
money to the water by the perioada aforesaid. or wether per
Bree. That the many of Berrien
day of Juse next, at eleven o'clock A LAD.
is the forewoon of sald day, at the would be therwise useful for which is editor of the territory, to a bled to action or send us well as palente e any form op
en store and who payment, le immediately transmitted to place when they shall be their public preso part of the comty of Cussal
Ius kept by Mr. Samor! Van For
hischer, Anladitor shall Therapion pads, warna mererede effects and the retumship meeting shall be
oh town of Ane Arbour, in the fair compensation will be paid.
Als few thousand babies ortify the use to the toyuter, ond Me to the cury faraid, water the pun beld at the house of Wale Justice in
role oy of Washtesaw-Dated
stuin, for which a fair price will be rates n whites are
prere neheer and all articles weater
urge him with an areas well as ofta bundred and any dollars for widtownship,
Sres. That all bat part of the
receber, 2. 1929.
CORNELIUS OUSTERHOUT, , on a to and laetiowl
paid in goods or whiskey,
if deliver the sale made it be the dats entrusted to an adetivaret for ale, and by my of St.
Joseph kustomoshipun
Mortgagee.
E. CLARK
thereof at the time and in the manner den er private sale shall be table to the whips Rambuted right in targele
Torship
ab edird, and trust we didatit duty foresaid: and ns per shall drwelten
G. WILLCOXSON, .lry del No. 1
to the suditor
poseta e o rendus de ware by the name of W Pigen, und the
DFAULT Boting has made in the nord dela al institaliau N. Hampdor
ым,
Porn
Joh
O
9
1824-1859
1
1
1
(

1
1
Church of the First German Evangelical Society, Scio Township

1
WARRANTY DEED.
know all men by these presents, that We Beli Mlm and Ann. . Altera
da. Ten
în consideration of it
the receipt whereof Ile
said ka las
cel of land situate in hou.
of An Ahlon in the County of Vaahtena lenta, o Abelea
Aalm
dollars han paid by Jame themsel
how
the same
do hereby acknowledge, do by these presents give, grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the
heirs and assigos a certin par
Bounded and described
as lollows viz suste m the wet half of the louth leforastu od feedens
Townshah Nila Srath, A Aarne ve, sunt tastin tort
No. In of
so.
hand Protect. bommenang on
t
South Ath quarter Stahu, thene runny test parallel with it Nortt
lene Aa Jet buits ands
, thence Stutt'tuent sed, thence that ferallt
with it an siest mention beght, end, thence North on sau sectenline
sen
trent hotst the place of Begineid. contanung ten acres be the same mure
1
7
the s': !
together and all the privileges and apartepauces, to the said land in any wise appertaining and belonging. To have and to boid
'le alove granted premises to the sand interes livsel7
boriss and assigns, to h and their use and behoof forever. And I
the said Pchu. Hla
for
heirs, cxecutors, and administrators, do covenant with
heirs and assigns, that (220
Jawtully space in fee of the aforesaid premises; that they are free froin all incumbrance; that / have a good right to sell and
convey the same to the said
11
as aforesaid ; and
will. and heirs, executors, and administrators, shalt WARRANT AND DEFEND the same to the said
limful demone's of all persons! In testimony whereof l' the said in the new
heirs and assigns forever, against the
trom teller
ha e hereunto srl
Á 1) our thousand right hundred and thirty
hands and scaly this it, is it day of lan,
haped
that is
v Sirledend Delivered?
Pure Atle
Au.
id
Lidhur
(..
Warranty Deed from John and Ann Allen to James Kingsley
10
1824-1859
JOURNAL
OF TAR
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
i
!
CONVENTION OF DELEGATES
+
CHOSEN BY THE ELECTORS
OF THE
STATE OF MICHIGAN,
IN PURSUANCE OF
AN ACT OF CONGRE88 OF JUNE 18, 1836, AND AN
ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF SAID
STATE, OR JULY 25, 1826
FOR THE PURPOSE OF TAKING INTO
CONSIDERATION
THE PROPOSITION OF CONGRESS,
RELATIVE TO THE
ADMISSION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
INTO THE UNION;
BEGUN AND HELD
AT THE COURT HOUSE, IN THE VILLAGE OF ANN ARBOR,
ON MONDAY, THE 2TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, A.D. 1886.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CONVENTION.
PONTIAC:
PRINTED BY B. N. GANTT.
1826.
11
1824-1859

Put One MUM
COOLD , 10
11
PLAN.
© The Worloge
Annarleur
hand
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1824 Plat Map of "Annarbour"
12
1824-1859

20
IMA
WWW
Ann Arbor Union High School

DAILY LINE OF
MAIL STAGES,
From ANN ARBOR to DEXTER and back
again. This line runs in connexion with Saltmarsh,
Gillis & Co., who connect with the Central Railroad
at Ypsilanti.
Passengers by this line leaving Detroit in the morn-
ing will be conveyed from the Depot at Ypsilanti, by
Saltmare, Gillis & Co., dizert to Ann Arbor, where
a stage if at all times be in readiness to convey
them in gh from
An Arbor to Dexter.
Passengers loening from Dexter will be convey d to Ann Arbor so as to connect with the
Morning or Enug Stages and Cars. Horses and Carriages will be furnished at all times,
by the subscrib r, to carry passengers to any part of the country,
JOHN CHAMBERLAIN,
Dexter, June 19, 1838.
LASSADO, PROCROR DETROIT
13
1824-1859
1
1
0000000000000000066
Splendid Sale of Real Estate
IN ANN ARBOR,
AT AUCTION!!
1
1
THE undersigned will offer at Public Auction on the 8th day of
June next, at the Ann Arbor Exchange, in this Village, on the most
liberal terms,
1000 VILLAGE LOTS,
comprising some of the most eligible locations for business, and ma-
ny of the most delightful sites for dwellings in the village or its vi-
cinity. Also,
1
100 Out Lots
of from 1 to 10 acres each, lying within one mile of the Village; sev-
eral of them well timbered and many of them well watered,affording
excellent pasture. Also a number of
1
IMPROVED FARMS
1
1
situated from one to three miles from town.
The healthy and delightful situation of Ann Arbor and its superior natural advantages
are too well known to require description. The Legislature at its last session estab-
lished the University at Ann Arbor ; and also provided by law for the speedy construc-
tion by the State of the Detroit and St. Joseph Rail Road, which will probably be com-
pleted to this place the present season. The funds of the University being now estima- .
ted at over $5,000,000 and rapidly increasing, every thing connected with the institu-
tion will doubtless be conducted upon a scale of unparalleled munificence, and nothing
will be omitted which science, taste, and wealth can do to embellish the Town, improve
the society, and make it the most desirable residence in the Great West, for persons of
Literature and refinement, while the great Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Commer-
cial advantages of the place, and the facilities of communication with every part of the
Union will afford ample employment for the capitalist and man of business. Similar in-
ducements can never again be offered to purchasers in Michigan.
The terms of sale will be one fourth down, (or approved Bank paper,) and the balance
in three equal annual instalments with annual interest secured upon the property.
Ann Arbor Scrip will be received at $200 per share, in payment for all property sold
by the Ann Arbor Land Co. The sales will be positive, and the title in all cases war-
anted good.
E. W. MORGAN, | Trustees of the Ann
WM. S. MAYNARD, Arbor Land Co,
CHARLES THAYER,
D. B. BROWN,
CHESTER INGALLS,
E. S. COBB,
Ann Arbor, April 20th, 1837.
WM. R. THOMPSON,
1
ARGUS OFFICE PRINT-ANS ARBOR, MIN
1
14
1824-1859

47
FRANKLIN
HDUST
RITTEN TROTS

Early Engraving of Ann Arbor, from the West
15
1824-1859

DEMOCRATIC
MEETING.
W
ON Saturday, the 2d day of
DEMOCRATIC MEETING,
NOVEMBER next, there will be a
at the Court House in Ann Arbor. The DEMO-
CRATS of Washtenaw County are requested to at-
tend.
It can not be expected that the Democratie candi-
date for Governor will be present to make electioneer-
ing speeches for himself, as was the whig candi-
date for that office at a recent meeting of the whigs at
the same place. But it is promised (and shall be done)
that the many falsehoods promulgated by the whigs;
written and spoken by their imported speakers and
readers, in which they made even Agures speak false
to deceive the people, shall be exposed by citisens of
our own county.
E. Mundy, W. R. Thompson,
James Kingsloy,
G. Peters,
J. Tull,
J. Beedon,
R. S. Wilson, J. B. Guitteau,
T. H. Rogers,
S. Sutherland, C. Joslia,
A. Crossman,
G. Danforth, D. W Bliss,
S Denton,
A M Gould, M Smith,
C Thayer,
0 Howe,
M Rider,
M Davis,
E Clark,
J Bardwell,
W A Buckbee,
N Noble,
A Goodwill,
D Petty,
F JB Crane L Briggs,
J Anderson.
A Becox,
E Root
W Anderson.
16
1860
6281
1860-1879
1
1
Memories of Civil War times in Ann Arbor are con-
tained in records which, according to Ann Arbor his-
torian Lela Duff, "fairly vibrate with the shock, the
frantic activity, the frustrations and heartbreak of the
period.” Following the firing upon Fort Sumter in April
1861, the city was alive with war preparations and
rumors of conspiracy. At a mass meeting held in the
courthouse on April 15, Ann Arbor rallied to the Union.
Local businessman George D. Hill offered a resolution
asking that the people of Ann Arbor “stand by the
President of the United States in the proper and con-
tinued performance of his duties in executing the laws of
the United States." He further requested that Ann
Arbor's citizens be organized into military companies
"to be ready to meet a draft upon the State of
Michigan.” Both motions carried unanimously.
These gestures were largely ceremonial. In 1859
some of the city's German residents formed the
Steuben Guards. With news of war, this unit offered
itself for military duty as part of the First Michigan Infan-
try. Proudly decked out in their uniforms, they received
the cheers and good wishes of an expectant citizenry
and departed the train station for Detroit and regimental
headquarters on April 29. Throughout this day of cele-
bration and farewell the official escort for the Steuben
Guards consisted of Relief Fire Company No. 2 and the
newly formed Barry Guard. Commanded by ex-Mayor
Robert J. Barry, this unit in June 1861 was reorganized
as part of the Fourth Michigan Infantry. The students of
the University formed a third unit, the University Battal-
a
ion, while a fourth unit formed in May 1861 was christ-
ened the Ann Arbor Silver Greys.
jah Q. Morgan, Daniel E. Wines, and William S.
Maynard were among those who agreed to drill on the
second Saturday of every month (weather permitting).
Failure to appear, their by-laws warned, would result in
the fine of one dime. The war, fortunately, never moved
close enough to permit a test of the Home Guard's
military competence.
Those left on the home front could do little but
swallow their anxiety and force themselves back into
the routine of daily life. Local government responded in
great part to the needs of the moment. The charter was
amended in 1861 to extend the limits of the city, and in
1867 an entirely new charter was adopted, dividing the
city into six wards. The work of the council was prosaic:
approving the extension of wooden plank walks into
new areas of the city; authorizing the construction of
wooden crosswalks to bridge the streets of Ann Arbor
which in inclement weather became a 'sea of mud''; or
prohibiting the slaughter of animals within the city limits.
Pupils and teachers of the fifth ward school house were
reportedly “overpowered by the stench.”
Council's actions reflected the city's concern for the
moral welfare of both its own citizens and the student
population of the University. In 1871, it moved to close
the city's gambling halls; while in 1879, it passed an
ordinance prohibiting the sale, circulation, and printing
of “obscene, immoral, indecent and scandalous books,
papers or prints." The same year, following a riot of 700
students outside a “house of ill fame,” council received
a petition from local townspeople urging the suppres-
sion of similar establishments. “Houses of prostitution,
the newspaper warned, "are a great source of evil, not
only to the youth of our own city but to the large
number of young men who are yearly entrusted to our
care."
Ann Arbor was ill-equipped in these years to handle
problems of municipal law enforcement. In 1860 it had
a population of 4,447 residents, or over 5,000 if Univer-
sity enrollment is included. The city continued to grow
even during the Civil War. It reached a level of 5,731 in
1864 and advanced to a height of 7,363 in 1870. The
city marshall and his deputies could handle minor dis-
turbances and instances of inebriation, but in the later
part of the 1860's the city required more. In 1867 the
Peninsular Courier and Family Visitant pointed out the
need for an “efficient night police.” After due delibera-
tion, council in 1871 voted to establish a six-member
police force. The city at long last had around-the-clock
protection.
The need for a police force was tied to the city's rapid
commercial growth. In 1860, Ann Arbor had five hotels,
including Cook's, the American, and the Washtenaw
House. By 1872 the city had a total of eight hotel
establishments, including the Gregory House which
had been erected in 1862 on the site of the American. In
1860 Ann Arbor had one retail druggist, C. (Christian)

Ann Arbor's Co.D, 4th Michigan Infantry
The Silver Greys, or the Ann Arbor Home Guard,
was an assemblage of men forty-five years of age or
older. Supposedly too old for active combat, the Greys
included the town's most illustrious citizens. University
President Henry P. Tappan and local businessmen Eli-
18
1860-1879
Eberbach & Co. Twelve years later, five additional
druggists had established businesses. Five billiard halls
existed in 1872, while in 1860 there had been only
Daniel Perry's Billiard Saloon. And, most significant of
all, Ann Arbor had forty-nine saloons in 1872, while in
1860 there were but ten.
The city's growth was not limited to hotels or saloons.
Some of Ann Arbor's proudest buildings were erected
in this period. Hangsterfer's, with a ground floor confec-
tionery shop and a dance hall and auditorium upstairs,
was completed in 1860. Most of the major musical and
theatrical presentations which came to Ann Arbor in the
1860's appeared here. Its reputation diminished with
the opening of George D. Hill's Opera House in 1871,
which thereafter became the center of the city's cultural
life. And, in 1878, the construction of the new court-
house capped the municipal building program.
By 1860 the religious life of Ann Arbor was already
Hill's Opera House.
ANN ARBOR, MICH.
THE
Strakosch Concert
well established. The city had ten churches: First Con-
gregational, Episcopal, German Lutheran, Methodist,
Methodist Episcopal, First and Second Presbyterian,
Quaker, St. Thomas' Catholic Church, and the Univer-
salist Church. By 1872 the Quaker and Universalist
churches had disbanded. Two Black congregations had
been formed: the African Methodist Episcopal Church,
located on present-day Fourth Avenue; and the African
Baptist Church, situated on the south side of High
Street. Throughout the '60's several of the established
churches outgrew their facilities and moved into splen-
did new quarters. The First Presbyterian Church was
completed in 1860; the Methodist Episcopal Church in
1867; and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in 1869.
Construction continued into the '70's with the erection
of the First Congregational Church and the beginning of
the First Baptist Church which was dedicated in 1881.
In addition to the activities of the city's churches,
citizens could participate in a great variety of other
cultural organizations. In 1866 some prominent women
of the town organized the Ladies Library Association.
Funded by a system of fees and dues, the library was
open to all subscribing Ann Arbor residents. By 1881 it
boasted a collection of 200 volumes. Other organiza-
tions were tailored to the city's growing numbers of
German immigrants: The German Laboring Men's So-
ciety; the Turn Verein; and the Schuetzenbund. A
number of reform organizations sought to curb the
influence of the saloon: the Ann Arbor Temperance
Society; the Father Mathew Temperance Society; the
Ladies Temperance Union; St. Thomas Benevolent
Temperance Society; the Ann Arbor Reform Club; and
the Juvenile Temperance Union.
A few organizations defied classification. Of these,
the Independent Six was the most baffling. Organized in
1875, the members of this society devoted themselves
to the study of Japanese sciences. Its chain of command
included, at the top, the Mikado, followed by 1st and
2nd Tycoon, the Daimio, Hattamoto, and chaplain. In
1876 the Independent Six presented its production of
Hamlet at Hill's Opera House. The newspaper account
failed to make clear the relevance of Hamlet to
Japanese studies.
The decades of the '60's and '70's saw the introduc-
tion and flowering of other forms of diversion. Some of
these were traditional, such as the circus and the visiting
lecturer, and some were new, like baseball and the
beginning of what would be the bicycling craze. Nearly
every year the arrival of summer marked the beginning
of the circus season. Beginning in late May and continu-
ing through the early fall, Ann Arbor played host to as
many as three separate circus companies. For weeks in
advance, the newspapers trumpeted the pending arri-
val of some of the greatest circuses in nineteenth-
century America. P. T. Barnum, Adam Forepaugh's

-PATTI
-MARIO
& Breton
ON MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 3D, 1873.
AT 8 O'CLOCK.
RESERVED SEATS, $2.00,
Which can be secured at Gilmore & Fisk's Book Store.
Weber Pianos are used at these concerts.
Sentinel Pont, Yt Wayne.
19
1860-1879
Great Eastern Menagerie, the R. Sands Grand Multiser-
ial Combination Circus and Homohipodeal Am-
phitheatre, and Van Amburgh's New Great Golden
Menagerie Circus & Colosseum all appeared in Ann
Arbor.
I A TOWERING GIANT AMONG ITS FELLOWS!
ANN ARBOR, MACE, THURSDAY, MAY 16.
THE ONLY TWELVE-TENT AND $100,000 CHALLENGE STOW IN THE WORLD!
GREAT EASTERN MENAGERIE !
Code Ethike - Bratis
Printed and revistas. Vesse igra
ungd Bolo P. Co
Edwin Booth in his role as “Hamlet,” and Buffalo Bill
and Texas Jack in their production of the “Scouts of the
Plains.”
The University's Student Lecture Association
brought many prominent lecturers and social reformers
to town. Speakers included Louis Agassiz, Wendell Phil-
lips, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Charles Sumner,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lucy Stone Blackwell, Henry
Ward Beecher, former Vice-President Schuyler Colfax,
and Robert G. Ingersoll
. Their subjects ranged from
evolution and reconstruction politics to women's rights
and literature. P. T. Barnum, in town without his circus,
lectured appropriately on “Money Getting.”
The reception which Ann Arbor accorded these
speakers varied considerably. In the heated period prior
to the inauguration of Lincoln in 1861, the fiery
abolitionist Parker Pillsbury of Boston was forced to flee
the Free Church when attacked by a mob of disgruntled
townspeople. At this meeting the local newspaper re-
ported, "some bones, as well as windows, doors, seats
&c., were broken." Contrasted with this was the solemn
reception Emerson received in January 1863. The
Michigan State News compared him to “one of the
puritanic fathers of the last century...'
The Civil War was partially responsible for the intro-
12
MUSEUM, CIRCUS, AQUARIUM, ROMAN HIPPODROME, AND EGYPTIAN CARAVAN.
Ac. 104 clock on Thursday, May 18, Grand Bt ve
.. Pagent and Procession ever two wiles long
.....WE.NE SHITT DE
Belors such Exhibties « Graad Free Baton
Ascension will be gives
(hare with repletly rede
1
On at least five separate occasions throughout the
1860's the newspapers heralded Dan Rice's Great
Show and School of Educated Animals. A master
clown, cocky and pugnacious, Rice enthralled Ann
Arbor audiences with his coarse humor and lively songs
and jigs. He and his troop, upon arrival at the Michigan
Central Railroad Station, would parade in costume
through town before their first big show later in the
afternoon and evening. Rice's entourage offered
"moral" attractions such as “Excelsior,” the blind, talk-
ing horse; the comic mules, “Pete and Barney''; and the
not-to-be-forgotten herd of sacred cattle. Many of the
acts came right out of the barnyard, yet townspeople
seemed unmindful of the failure of the performances to
live up to their advance publicity. For them the circus
broke the monotony of small-town life.
While the circus was a summer attraction, theatrical
performances appeared year-round at Hangsterfer's
Hall and Hill's Opera House. General Tom Thumb, the
midget discovered and made famous by P. T. Barnum,
made at least three appearances at Hangsterfer's.
Humorists Josh Billings and Artemus Ward also per-
formed. Minstrel shows were a popular form of enter-
tainment. In addition to such touring companies as the
George Christy Minstrels and Ben Cotton's California
Minstrels and Brass Band, Ann Arbor had its own
amateur minstrels. Dramatic presentations included

Dexter and Ann Arbor Baseball Teams
duction of new forms of entertainment into town.
Baseball began as a form of recreation among soldiers
in army camps. Its popularity quickly spread throughout
the nation. Many towns organized clubs to compete
against neighboring communities. As early as 1862,
Ann Arbor organized the Monitor Baseball Club.
Baseball then was not like today's defensive game.
Against the team from Ypsilanti in 1867, Ann Arbor
squeaked by 52 to 48. Two weeks later in the match
game of a three-game series Ann Arbor again
triumphed. This time the score was 66 to 27.
20
1860-1879
While working the Detroit and Toledo circuit, Chase
began collecting recipes for all types of medicines, as
well as instructions for the preparation of common
household items like vinegar, soap, paint, and cloth
coloring. Recognizing the need for a compilation of
such useful information, Chase brought his recipes to-
gether in a pamphlet entitled, Information for
Everybody. The eighth edition of this work, brought out
in 1860, became something of a publishing phenome-
non. Within its covers the housewife on the farm or the
tradesman in the city had at hand over 600 recipes for
such luxuries as oyster soup and tomato wine, and for
herbal remedies to cure everything from “old sores”
and deafness to the relief of ingrown toenails.
The grandiose practices and theories of the Drs. Kel-
logg and Chase were indicative of fundamental changes
through which medical science was passing. In reaction
GG'S
The coming to Ann Arbor of “velocipedes”—or
bicycles—was a fad, a diversion reserved for a very few.
The real flowering of bicycling did not occur until the
1880's. But for a brief moment in 1869, the velocipede
captured the attention of the town. Similar to a bicycle,
the machine was propelled by turning the front wheel.
This wheel, though slightly larger than the back, was not
as big as the high-wheeled bicycles of the 1880's and
'90's. In February 1869 an out-of-town manufacturer
demonstrated the use of the velocipede. “The
'animiles' are now stabled at the hall over Besimers'
Saloon," the Michigan Argus reported, "where the
sporting gentry can have an opportunity to try their
metal and their speed...we expect to see a street race at
no distant day.” In April two riders made the trip to
Ypsilanti in two hours, no mean feat in that day of
primitive, rutted, and mud-swamped roads. After some
complaints, the city passed an ordinance forbidding the
riding of velocipedes on the city's sidewalks.
The circus, the theatre, and the excitement of
baseball and cycling were for most the only respite in an
otherwise harsh and tedious existence. Public health
was still in its infancy. Of the fifty-one reported deaths in
1862, twelve persons were under five years of age and
twenty-one were twenty years old or less. The primary
causes of death were the dreaded scarlet fever, con-
sumption, and lung congestion and inflammation. In
1878 scarlet fever and consumption accounted for
nearly fifty per cent of the 123 deaths reported in the
city.
Ann Arbor was famous for its medical facilities. The
city's reputation derived partly from its association with
the University's Department of Medicine and Surgery.
But by far the greatest part of its medical acclaim rested
upon the showmanship of unorthodox practitioners
who expounded all-inclusive remedies for the ills of
mankind, and promised their patients restoration of
health with a minimum of personal discomfort.
Daniel B. Kellogg claimed the ability, during hypnotic
sleep, to discern remedies for illnesses. While in this
state, Kellogg wrote in his autobiography, “I seemed to
be a sort of connecting link between the patient's dis-
ease and nature's remedy.” Kellogg's resulting popular-
ity was not without its drawbacks. Before becoming a
professional healer, Kellogg wrote: “The sick came
from all directions... My house was filled to excess; and
such was the demand upon my time that I was forced to
neglect my legitimate occupation; and my external life
was mainly spent in unconscious slumber.'
Kellogg's techniques contrasted with the methods of
Ann Arbor's most famous doctor. Ambitious and self-
assured, Dr. Alvin Chase parlayed an extraordinary
talent as a peddler of patent medicines and groceries
into an enormously successful publishing business.

SOAKELLOCS
MEDICAL WORKS.
DR KELLOGG'S
MEDICAL WORKS
PRINTING OFFICE.
DR KELLOGG'S OFFICE
DR KELLOGG'S
FAMILY MEDICINES.
21
1860-1879
to traditional methods, which included the bleeding and
purging of sick people, doctors in the '60's and '70's
began experimenting with the use of mild vegetable
remedies for illness. Mineral baths, too, were in vogue
during this period. In 1866, a Doctor Hale opened the
a
“Mineral Springs House” in Ann Arbor. Located on
present-day Bath Street, this building accommodated
up to 80 people.
The "Mineral Springs House" was one of many
business enterprises to appear after the Civil War. In this
period, E. J. Knowlton began the manufacture of his
Universal Bath. Supported like a hammock between
two pieces of household furniture, Knowlton's Bath
could then be filled with water to bathe all or only parts
of the human body. The pliable sides, Knowlton's ad-
vertising read, “confirm to the irregularities of the per-
son, and leave very little space to fill up with water..." '
Metal bathtubs were still a rarity. Knowlton's genius was
to manufacture an inexpensive, pliable, and portable
bathing apparatus.
Another of Ann Arbor's burgeoning manufacturing
businesses was the Mozart Watch Company. Patented
by Donald J. Mozart, the watch was touted as a mechan-
ical marvel. With its “self-compensating level,” the
watch had no stopping place, thus “once wound up, it is
KNOWLTON'S
bound to run until it runs down... Screw the same
(watch) to the side of a locomotive, and it will run with
the most perfect regularity.” In February 1869 the
company moved into the south side of Dr. Chase's
block and began producing its watches.
“The future of Ann Arbor never looked so bright as
now," the Courier gloated in 1871. “From present
appearances it is safe to say that the population of Ann
Arbor will double in the next five years." The paper
came to regret this statement. The successful Mozart
Watch Company earlier in 1870 had deserted Ann
Arbor for the more congenial environs of Milwaukee.
The business prosperity of the post-Civil War years
peaked, and in its wake came the depression of 1873.
The newspapers began filling up with mortgage sales
and notices of houses for sale. E. J. Johnson, hat, cap,
and fur dealer, was just one of many business failures.
Population figures told the story. From a peak of 7,300
people in 1870, the city dropped to 6,700 in 1874.
"Watchman, what of the hour?”' the Peninsular
Courier editorial asked in December 1874. Ann Arbor
was at a turning point in its history. “Soon, very soon,
the question is to be settled, and settled forever,
whether Ann Arbor is to dwindle into a mere boarding-
house town, or whether it is to become a city of no mean
proportions for an inland town, say twenty thousand
inhabitants... We have allowed golden opportunities to
pass. While we, Rip Van Winkle like, have slept, rail-
roads have been built north and south of us, along the
lines of which small towns are springing up, creating a
market for produce which formerly came to us.
This...we are willing to confess, does not tend to make
the future of Ann Arbor to us a pleasing theme for
contemplation... We are in a transitory state, a genera-
tion is now passing away. Shall we take the tide at its
flood, or omit it?"
The greatest of these "golden opportunities” which
the city had missed was the construction of a second
railroad, linking Ann Arbor markets to the south. The
dream of an Ann Arbor-Toledo Railroad went back to
the 1840's. Interest waned during the Civil War, but
beginning in 1865, local capitalists began drumming up
support for the railroad. In 1866 the Toledo, Ann Arbor,
and Saginaw Railroad Company was formed; and in
1870 the people of Ann Arbor voted a loan of $100,000
for the completion of the road, now christened the
Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Railroad. This com-
pany floundered in the depression of 1873. The city
waited until 1878 for the dream of a north-south railway
to become a reality.
The difficulty of getting the railroad to Ann Arbor had
a profound effect on the community's spirit. Without an
additional railroad aspiring businessmen had only the
Michigan Central to transport their goods to market.
When it looked as if the railroad would never come, the
BATHING APPARATUS

MICH. ENS.CO,
"UNIVERSAL BATH."
22
1860-1879
EVERYBODY REJOICE
HANG OUT TOUR BINNERS!
THE IRON ON THE TOLEDD & ANN ARBOR
RAILROAD
thereby attracting a larger student enrollment. From a
level of 1,100 students in 1870, the number slowly
increased to 1,534 in 1880. In the first decade of his
administration, Angell worked to establish a Depart-
ment of Dentistry and a School of Mines; and after
several years of debate, the University finally estab-
lished a Homeopathic College. The University's history
was not without blemish. A case of presumed misap-
propriation of student fees in the Chemical Laboratory
in 1875 ballooned into a statewide scandal involving
Angell, the Regents, Courier publisher Rice Beal, and
the two central figures, Silas Douglas and Preston Rose.
The matter of the responsibility for the missing funds
was never really resolved and the question continued to
be debated for many years to come.
The Douglas-Rose Controversy brought a bitter con-
clusion to the score of years which had begun with the
Civil War. Although not affected as badly as some cities
by the Depression of'73, Ann Arbor was slow to shake
off the doldrums of economic decline. A combination of
factors—depression, the snail-like development of the
north-south railroad to Ann Arbor, and the bitterness
engendered by the Douglas-Rose Controversy—shook
Ann Arbor's faith in its future. Still a fundamentally
healthy community, the city was uncertain of its direc-
tion as the 1880's dawned.

WILL BE LAID INTO ANN ARBOR
TODAY!
MA Y 18, taro,
Citizens will meet at the Opera House at 3 o'clock P. M.,
to-day, and aceč mpany the Band to South Main street, and
there meot the track-layers. Aftor short speeches by
HENRY C. WALORON and HON. JOHN L. BURLEICH, a
counter-march will be made to the Opera House, when a
SUPPER will be provided for all.
Lot every one turn out and lend a helping
band to furnish tho men a good square
meal.
BY ORDER OF COMMITTEE.
OL NIEPent

Courier rationalized: “Every town cannot be a man-
ufacturing place. Our city is a literary city, and as such
we are proud of it... should we attempt to carry on all
kinds of enterprises we should fail. Everything for our
educational interests and nothing for outside wild
speculators, is our motto."
The editorial implied that the future of Ann Arbor was
forever linked to the success of the University. Ann
Arbor's citizens became increasingly conscious and jus-
tifiably proud of the accomplishments of the University
and its faculty. They gloated over the favorable com-
ments of out-of-town visitors drawn to the city because
of the University. Ann Arbor, one traveler wrote, “is a
popular resort for the wealthy, refined and intellectual
from different parts of the world”
Such compliments reflected favorably upon the
leadership of the University in the 1870's. In 1871
James B. Angell commenced his thirty-eight-year ten-
ure as president of the University. Under his direction,
the University broadened the scope of its curriculum,
PRES. J.B.ANGELL
President F. B. Angell.
23
1860.1879


Lower Town and Mills, from the Northwest
24

1860-1879
盾
​25
1860-1879

1
G RESPOND
TO OUR COUNTRY'S CALL!
WANTED!
100 ABLE Bodied Men, to Fill up the Ranks of the
20TH REGIMENT!
Company being raised in this city, for the

$100 BOUNTY!
25 DOLLARS ON BEING MUSTERED INTO
Service: $13,00, the first month's pay and a premium of $2,
MAKING IN ALL $40
That cach VOLUNTEER RECEIVES IN ADVANCE. The FAMILY of a VOLUNTEER RECEIVES $310 $15 a month from the County.
AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR
160 ACRES OF LAND AND THE REMAINING 75 DOLLARS OF THE BOUNTY.
The last opportunity is now offered to patriots to volunteer in the service of their country. Men must respond speedily to the call or drafting will be
resorted to for our
country is in danger. The drafted man receives only his $11 per month, Our government has been liberal to us—let us be prompt
to sustain it. A Regiment raised in 30 days is worth ewo raised in 60.
Recruiting Office tvo doors West of Cook's Hotel in Donelly's neu Block, Ann Arbor.
C.B. GRANT, CAPTAIN.
26
1860-1879

COOK
Η ΟΤΣΙ..
nona
CLOTHING
ATM
RAL003
2.99
Tappan Speaking on the Firing on Fort Sumter

ui
MIMPARA
M
Hill's Opera House, with Miller Ave. in the Background
27
1860-1879
THE NATION
MOURNS:
LATE PRESIDENT LINCOLN
The day of the Funeral of the
1
Wednesday, April 19, 1865,
will be appropriately observed by the Citizens of
Ann Arbor, as follows:
The Bells of the City will be tolled from 11 1-2
o'clock A. M., to 12 m., and at 12 appropriate ro-
ligious exercises will be held
In St. Andrew's Church,
In Presbyterian Church, Union.
In St. Thomas' Church.
In the Lutheran Church.
At 3 o'clock P. M., a EULOGY will be de-
livered at the Court House square by REV DR.
E. O. HAVEN.
. ?ܝ
The Bells will complee tolling at 2 o'clock
P..N., when the procession will form in the
following order, at FIREMENS JIALL:
1. Band.
2. Prosident of the in
19:13.
3. Common Council.
4. Clergy, aud Faculties of the University.
5. Masons and Odd Fellows.
6, Fire Departinent.
7. Returned soldiers.
8. Students of the University.
9. Teachers and scholars of Public Schools.
10. Citizens generally.
and proceed to the Square, where the following order of exercises will be observed :
Music, Prayer, Eulogy,
Music, Benediction.
OFFICERS OF THE DAY:
Hon. WM. S. MAYNARD, President ; Dr. E. 0.
HAVEN, Orator; B. F. COCKER, Chaplaid 0. M.
MARTIN, Marshal.
US EFL.I.1.4
1 111011
('ont
f Citizen
Hon. BP GRAVER
L 1. SLANO
JONIN (LANY
in ttes . Ce apo
28
1860-1879

State Street, from the South, ca. 1877

State Street from North University Avenue
29
1860-1879

二
​Courthouse, 1878
30
1860-1879

AAHIS
Ann Arbor High School Class of 1874

Residence of Henry Binder, Southeast Corner of Liberty and Main, ca. 1875
31
1860-1879
1

1
ELE
EFILL
UN
DUIS DIXYS
PRIATINSOITTI
CALEWIS.
BOOTS SHOES
Main Street,
-
32
6681
0881
1880-1899
ing states who were eager to prepare for attendance at
the best college west of the Alleghenies.
Most of the homes in Ann Arbor in previous years
had been built near the Main Street business district or
in the immediate vicinity of the campus. New subdivi-
sions on South State Street beyond Packard, on the
south side of Hill Street formerly occupied by the fair-
grounds, and on Washtenaw Avenue south of Hill
Street were begun in the last decade of the century. The
Ann Arbor had no sooner shrugged off the
Douglas-Rose virus than it had to face a renewed threat
to its prosperity. While the completion of the Toledo,
Ann Arbor and Northern Railroad in 1878 lowered
freight rates and increased the volume of local
economic activity, the advantage was offset by a slight
business recession and a temporary setback encoun-
tered by the University of Michigan, the town's largest
employer. Between 1881 and 1884 the University's
enrollment declined from 1,534 to 1,295. The amount
of money spent by students in the town decreased
accordingly. In addition, state appropriations to the
University were drastically curtailed. The gradual in-
crease in the city's population between 1875 and 1880
was reversed. The number of residents in Ann Arbor
between 1880 and 1884 declined from 8,061 to 7,022.
Good health returned shortly thereafter, and during
the next sixteen years Ann Arbor obtained a durable
prosperity little affected by the national depression of
1893. State appropriations to the University more than
doubled and the number of students nearly tripled,
going from 1,295 to 3,712. The number of permanent
residents almost doubled, jumping from 7,922 to
14,509, adding in sixteen years an amount that had
taken sixty years to achieve previously.
More Manufacturing Institutions Needed in
Ann Arbor.
The Workingmen and Mechanics havo Increased our
Clothing Trade Beyond all Expectations.
We want more Manufacturing Establishments It will
be the making of our city, and will build up a larger Cloth-
ing Business for
THE TWO SAMS.
THE TWO SAMS.
Doserving to arouse our Capitalists to this important fact,
we will offer to any Corporation or individual the sum of
Five Hundred Dollars,
THE TWO SAMS."
“THE TWO SAMS.”
COLLEGE HILL ADDITION.
As a Bonus, to be paid to them or him that will erect a
building and maintain a Factory for a poriod of years, and
therein employ One Hundred (100) Workingmen.
We can readily see the benefits that will accrue to the
city and therefore to us, from such an institution. We
would ask other Merchants to join us in this enterprise.
We make this a CASH OFFER, and we will assist person.
ally in aiding this movement.
CALL ON US FOR

AUCTION SALE OF LOTS!
ON THE GROUNDS ON
FRIDAY, JUNE 19th, AT 1 p. m.
.
Your Spring Suits, Hats,
EVERY LOT IN THE VISEST AUDITION
EVER MADE TO ANN ARNOL
TORE
A Large Tent will be pro-
vided for Shelter in
Sold Without
Case of Rain.
www Red
Reserve!
by own
bmx
WASHTENAW AVE. LOTS,
- The
-
VINEWOOD BOULEVARD
LOTS
EVERYTHING INCLUDED
YOUR OWN PRICE WILL BUY THEM.
TERMS OF BALE-A Cod Preporodas.co til
bed as time or Solin. The balance 1000 papers te rrally Shelley. hares devem
python
JAMES R. BACH, W. W. WATTS. Aga
JNO, B. CORLISS. JOS. R. MeLAUGHLIN, Owners
6. WARDELL & SON, Auctioneers
or what you may need in our line. We undersoll any house
in Washtonaw County.
Remember also we are the only One-Price
Clothing House in Ann Arbor,
BLITZ & LANGSDORF,
The Two Sams.
9 South Main Street.
Money refunded If Goods purchased are not satisfac-
tory.
Prosperity and population growth sustained a tre-
mendous housing boom. Many houses were sold or
rented before the foundations were laid. The University
provided no dormitory facilities, and most new home
owners built grandly knowing that extra rooms could
always be rented to students for additional income.
Newcomers were attracted by the city's natural
beauty and educational opportunities. Families moved
to Ann Arbor because of the high school's good college
preparatory program and stayed until their children had
completed education at both the high school and Uni-
versity. In addition to educating Ann Arbor residents,
the high school also accommodated a large number of
tuition students from outlying rural areas and surround-
geographical center of the city's population shifted
eastward toward the campus area.
Inconvenience caused by living at a distance from
Main Street was alleviated by changes in Post Office
procedures and the dispersal of retail outlets. The first
collection boxes for mail were set out in 1884. Three
years later rural home delivery eliminated the necessity
of going to the Main Street Post Office to post or receive
mail. Students and east-end residents increasingly de-
clined to make the trip downtown and shopped on
State Street or ordered by mail from Detroit. To meet
their needs, Main Street merchants established branch
stores on and around State Street. Combined with
newer stores, the branches created a whole new busi-
34
1880-1899
ment. Trying to keep taxes as low as possible, the
council granted franchises to private companies to build
and operate new utilities.
In January 1881 the telephone company opened
Ann Arbor's first telephone exchange and within the
next few years put up lines connecting Ann Arbor with
Ypsilanti, Saline, Manchester, Howell, Adrian, and De-
troit. The number of telephones in town increased from
25 in 1881 to 96 in 1883 and 141 in 1892. Many
subscribers used the instrument for entertainment.
Some people played checkers by phone, while others
TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH
CONSTRUCTION 0-0
Rules and Directions for Using This Instrument.
ness district and contributed to a growing distinction
between the University community and the original
town of Ann Arbor.
In spite of the city's substantial prosperity in the late
nineteenth century, local businessmen were uneasy be-
cause the stability of the town's economy was depen-
dent on The University of Michigan. As other midwest-
ern states established colleges and began to compete
more successfully for students, the probability increased
that the University's enrollment could drop and with it
sales receipts. In addition, while profiting from the sec-
ond business district, the Main Street merchants feared
its potential as a competitor. To insure a sturdier
economy, everyone agreed Ann Arbor needed a per-
manent industrial base.
In May 1886 local businessmen organized the
Businessmen's Association of Ann Arbor to promote
business interests and encourage manufacturing. The
organization was an effective force for only a few years
and never did achieve its goal of attracting industry.
Nonetheless, it was an important precursor of the mod-
ern Chamber of Commerce and paved the way for later
collective action by Ann Arbor businessmen.
In August 1887 the city called a special election on a
proposal by the Association to raise $5,000 in taxes for
the purpose of "booming” the city. Voters approved
the tax 230 to 78, but a number of determined oppo-
nents succeeded in getting a court injunction against its
collection. After this setback the Association's influence
diminished. Businessmen periodically revived the or-
ganization during the next decade but it was never quite
as strong as in its first two years. With monthly meetings,
more than 100 members, a number of hard-working
officers, and committees on such specific subjects as
sewers, road improvements, and the publication of lit-
erature “booming” the town, the organization did call
attention to the implications of changes that were taking
place in Ann Arbor.
In 1880 Ann Arbor was a small town with a Univer-
sity perched on its outskirts. There were virtually no
public services available. The city council consisted of a
mayor, the recorder (who was a forerunner of the mod-
ern city clerk), and twelve aldermen. Individual alder-
men controlled affairs in their wards and personally
extended the few existing city services to areas under
their patronage.
The boom of the last two decades of the nineteenth
century included not only the building of new houses,
but also the construction of schools, churches, and
public buildings, as well as the introduction of many
modern services such as electric lights, water, sewers,
paved streets, and a street car system. Ann Arbor re-
sponded to these changes first by letting private enter-
prise fill the needs, and when this proved unsatisfactory,
by expanding the regulatory role of the city govern-
This Telepbope is for the use of Suleeribers to the Inn Arbor Telephour Ex.
change, and their inierests only
When you Ring, the land Triophone must in all cases hang upon the book
provided therefor. Ring twice for ibo (miral Officer
Be careful not to allow the land Telephone to fall, thereby breaking the wires
inside the cords and destroying the connection
When talking, keep the land Telephone coustantly at the car until you have
finished, otherwise you are liable to loune part of what is maid, thereby causing
confusion.
After obtaining a through connection at the ('entral Office, when your busi
ness is finished, ALWAYS Ring in i he same manner is when you first called for
the Central Office, This is important,
Until'further notice i be bour for the transaction of regular business will be
from 7 A. M., to 10 p, 2. after which time all Subscriber* (unless they request
otherwise), will be placed in connection witb Night Bell, and it is not expected
that they will ring after 10 P. N, except in case of Fire, Physician, or other
similar emergencies,
A little care and patience exercised by all, will greatly aid the working and
add to the benefits of the Telephone System.
W. A. JACKSON,
General Manager
W. D. GREENE,
Yenager Ann Arbor Telephone Exchange.
Open Sundays from 12 to 2 P. M.
sat at home and listened to a sermon delivered in the
Congregational Church, or to a concert given in Adrian.
As more and more businesses in town installed tele-
phones, serious matters began to be transacted by
phone.
The price for telephone service in the 1880's ($36
per year for a residence, $48 for a business) restricted
a
use to the wealthier segment of the population. In 1897,
however, a rival telephone company with considerably
lower rates began operations in town. During the ensu-
ing price war both companies added hundreds of new
subscribers. But the competition also forced merchants
and public offices to have two telephones—one with
each company.
35
1880-1899
An electric light company was formed in 1884, and in
the following year a group of outside investors started
the local waterworks. In both cases there was some
sentiment in favor of the city owning and operating the
plants. But the council preferred to keep taxes down by
contracting with private companies to provide the ser-
vices. The city subsidized these enterprises by becom-
ing their single largest customer. The first six electric
street lights were installed in 1884. Within ten years, all
of the gas street lamps had been replaced by electricity.
The agreement between the city and the water com-
pany stipulated that the company install 100 hydrants in
the city and supply water for fire fighting at an annual
fee of $40 per hydrant. Violating its trust, the company
never provided satisfactory service. It allowed water
pressure to drop below the level needed for fighting fires
and mixed unhealthy river water with spring water.
Little could be done to correct the situation because the
company held a long-term franchise. It was not until
1913 that the city was able to buy it out.
Ypsilanti or ride the car between Ann Arbor and Ypsi-
lanti for a warm summer evening's entertainment.
Besides negotiating and amending franchises for
public service corporations, the city council worked on a
sanitary sewer system (begun in 1894), a storm sewer
system (begun in 1898), street paving (begun in 1896),
and the repair and replacement of sidewalks. Prior to
the 1890's good natural drainage kept Ann Arbor's dirt
streets passable in all but the wettest weather. The
installation of water pipes and sewers, however, left the
roads rutted and marred by potholes. As an experiment
in 1896 the city macadamized a portion of Huron Street
in front of Fireman's Hall, Fourth Avenue between Ann
and Catherine, and Detroit Street between Catherine
and the depot. In 1898 five blocks of Main Street were
paved with brick and in the following year a brick sur-
face was put on the downtown blocks of Washington
Street.
Burgeoning city services called for an increasingly
sophisticated city government with an independence
and expertise impossible to maintain under the old
paternalistic system. Led by Mayor Samuel W. Beakes,
council rewrote the city charter in 1889, making the
council purely a legislative body. The mayor was given
strong executive powers and a veto over council legisla-
tion. In addition he obtained the right to appoint, sub-
ject to council approval, all members of city boards, and
other city officials including the treasurer, the chief of
police, and the city attorney. These paid officials as-
sumed administrative chores previously performed by
the city council. A new City Building was constructed in
1893 and symbolized the change to a more public
government.
Two important regulatory commissions were created
under the new charter. The Board of Public Works
brought all work on city streets under the direction of a
city engineer. Previously the council had maintained
separate street funds for each ward, administered by the
appropriate alderman. Central planning and control of
street maintenance soon proved more efficient and less
expensive.
The Board of Fire Commissioners supervised the
city's first professional fire fighting force. Prior to 1889,
the city's protection against fires consisted only of sev-
eral volunteer fire companies. Under this system any-
where from 75 to 150 people per year received the $5
salary for firemen (increased to $10 in 1886). The
Board of Fire Commissioners converted the fire de-
partment to a professional force of about 6 full-time
men and 5 men on call, and was able to raise wages to
$40 per month for a first-year man.
The Republicans were the majority party in the city
during much of the post Civil War era, but a split in the
party ranks in the early 1880's over prohibition allowed

USLO.co.
BAT
Water Works Building
The electric street railway system was instituted in
1890. Capitalizing on a desire that had originated in the
1860's, the Ann Arbor Street Railway Company's first
line connected the Michigan Central Railroad Depot,
the downtown business district, the University campus,
and the new fairgrounds at Burns Park. That same year
another company built the first interurban system in the
state, connecting Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. The interur-
ban began operations in 1891 and five years later
merged with the Ann Arbor Street Railway. In 1898 this
system combined with the larger Detroit, Ypsilanti and
Ann Arbor Street Railway Company. Offering frequent
trips at low prices, the interurban took much of the
passenger traffic between Ann Arbor and Detroit away
from the Michigan Central Railroad and allowed people
in rural areas to come to Ann Arbor more frequently.
Ann Arbor residents could now shop in Detroit and
36
1880-1899

Emma Bower
the Democrats to establish a tradition of office holding.
Most Republicans advocated temperance in the use of
liquor, but one faction supported outright prohibition.
The prohibitionists often entered a separate slate of
candidates for city offices and even won a council seat in
1884. The effective result, however, was to give control
of the city to the Democrats. Although the prohibition
party soon disappeared from city politics, the Demo-
crats continued to offer strong candidates and held the
mayor's office thirteen of the fourteen years from 1880
and 1893, often with council majorities. The depression
of 1893 hurt the party nationally and locally and the
Republicans regained their domination of city govern-
ment.
Although it had little role in the formal machinery of
government, prohibition was a significant force in
community affairs. Given the prominence of education
in Ann Arbor, the school board was an important com-
munity institution. In combination with the women's
rights movement, the prohibitionists managed to elect a
number of candidates to the school board. While the
board continued to be controlled numerically by weal-
thy merchants, women became increasingly involved in
school affairs. In 1881 women property owners re-
ceived the right to vote in school elections. Backed by
local temperance societies in 1883, Mrs. Sarah Bishop
became the first woman elected to the board.
During the 1890's the interest in the women's rights
movement increased in Ann Arbor. In 1894, after the
Michigan Equal Suffrage Association held its annual
convention in Ann Arbor, local women founded the
Political Equality Club of Ann Arbor. That year club
member Miss Emma E. Bower, editor of the Ann Arbor
Democrat, backed by the WCTU and the suffragists,
won a seat on the school board. In 1896 Mrs. Anna
Bach became the first woman president of the school
board. The following year Miss Bower was made board
treasurer. She served a term as president in 1899.
Besides the public school system, Ann Arbor also
had three parochial schools. St. Thomas Catholic
School, the largest of the three, completed a new build-
ing in 1886 on its present site and soon enrolled 200
students. Bethlehem German Evangelical Church
School had 60 students at that time and the school
connected with Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church had
55.
A school of music had existed in Ann Arbor as early
as 1879. The program was strengthened in the 1890's
when the University Musical Society started the Univer-
sity School of Music. The school constructed its own
building on Maynard Street in 1893 and had, despite its
name, no formal ties with the University. It merged with
the University in 1929.
Ann Arbor's churches enjoyed a prosperity of their
own between 1880 and 1900. Only four new congrega-
tions formed during this period (Disciples of Christ,
Grace Lutheran, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran, and
Seventh Day Adventist), but a great increase in atten-
dance was experienced at established churches. Ten
new churches were built. Most of these new stone or
brick structures are still standing and are among the
most beautiful old buildings in Ann Arbor. Some are
romanesque structures—the Unitarian Church (north-
east corner of State and Huron), the Church of Christ
(northwest corner of Tappan and Hill), and St. Thomas
Catholic Church (northwest corner of Kingsley and
State)—and are good examples of field stone architec-
ture. The two Black congregations of Second Baptist
and Bethel A.M.E. built new brick structures in the
1890's to accommodate a stable Black population.
The last years of the nineteenth century were a busy
time for the citizens of Ann Arbor, with inceased oppor-
tunities in recreation, entertainment, and sports. Al-
though the number of circuses diminished from previ-
ous years, the size and quality of those which came were
more impressive. Adam Forepaugh brought his show to
town about every other year in the 1880's. P. T.
Barnum's troup performed several times. In 1896 Buf-
falo Bill's Wild West Show appeared and two years later
the Ringling Brothers Circus came to town.
Because there were often several years between the
appearances of circuses in Ann Arbor, many other
37
1880-1899
Ladies Library
forms of entertainment became popular. An Ann Arbor
resident could hear lecturers such as Mark Twain,
Robert G. Ingersoll, Julia Ward Howe, Frances Willard,
Henry George, or Susan B. Anthony. Orators such as
Theodore Roosevelt, James G. Blaine, Grover Cleve-
land, William Jennings Bryan, and William McKinley
spoke in town. Other possibilities for an enjoyable out-
ing included a Shakespearean play, an opera by Gilbert
and Sullivan, or a concert by John Philip Sousa and the
U. S. Marine Band. The most popular entertainment
was the play “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” based on Harriet
Beecher Stowe's novel.
One of the most popular events on the Ann Arbor
cultural scene was the annual May Festival, begun in
1894 and sponsored by the University Musical Society.
Each year during the '90's, this festival attracted visitors
from all over Michigan and several neighboring states.
University Hall was often filled well beyond its normal
capacity for performances.
Almost every year the Washtenaw County Agricul-
tural and Horticultural Society sponsored a county fair
in Ann Arbor. The displays, races, and entertainment
generated much interest, but competition with fairs
elsewhere in the county made the fair less than a paying
proposition. In 1890, the Society was forced to sell its
grounds on the south side of Hill Street between Forest
and Lincoln. Mrs. Olivia Hall agreed to give the Society
an equal amount of land in what is now Burns Park plus
$7,000 in exchange for the Hill Street property. This
transaction erased the organization's debt and for many
years the fair prospered at its new location.
In the '80's and '90's, Ann Arbor's two libraries
enjoyed increasing patronage. The public library had its
quarters in the high school building and was open to the
public a few hours a week. In 1885, the Ladies Library
Association completed a new building on Huron Street
where the Michigan Bell Telephone Company building
now stands. Upon payment of a membership fee of one
dollar a year a patron had access to a collection of 3,500
volumes.
Two of Ann Arbor's ethnic groups held annual cele-
brations and a number of special festivals during these
years. Every year the Black community either staged a
celebration of Emancipation Day or organized excur-
sions to participate in celebrations in other towns. In
1883, a large number of Ann Arbor Blacks went to
Lansing for the Emancipation Day celebration and re-
turned pleased and happy early the next morning. The
following year a special celebration of the fiftieth an-
niversary of the freeing of the slaves in the West Indies
was held.
The other ethnic group in town with regular celebra-
tions and festivals was the large German population
living largely west of Main Street and south of Huron.
During the 1880's the Beethoven Gesangverein pro-


LYNA
Lyra Gesangverein
vided regular musical entertainment for the German
community, and in the 1890's the Lyra Gesangverein
took its place. Beginning in 1890, an annual celebration
of German-American day was held in one of the com-
munities in the county.
The Beethoven Gesangverein served as the host for
the largest singing festival ever held in Ann Arbor. The
three-day Seventh Peninsular Saengerfest, held in
1887, was conducted by the Peninsular Saengerbund,
an organization repesenting most of the German sing-
ing societies in the state. Seventeen train-car loads of
38
1880-1899
LIST OF PRIZES
SECOND ANNUAL
10 MILE
HANDICAP ROAD RACE
WOLVERINE CYCLERS
Ann Arbor, Mich.,
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1895
:33::30 P. VI.
TINE PRIZES:
1.121.18)
-1.*.liari Tin
...laluir.thenti Tim.,
visitors came from Detroit. Over 3,000 people attended
the closing concert.
Another form of entertainment for the people of Ann
Arbor was athletics. During this period sports were not
as highly organized as they later became. There were
many more participants and fewer spectators. Baseball
was the most important sport in the late nineteenth
century, both locally and nationally. The sport became
a real "craze" around the middle of the '80's. By 1884
the city council felt it necessary to ban ball playing in the
streets.
In those days most baseball games were arranged on
the spur of the moment. Local residents could see
matches between the staffs of two local newspapers,
between the Northside Club and a traveling club of
professional female players, between the city officials
and the county officials, or between the University fac-
ulty and a team composed of the high school faculty
and the board of education. The University of Michigan
played a schedule which included Ann Arbor High
School and a Detroit professional team.
Football also grew in popularity in the late nineteenth
century, but until the 1890's it resembled rugby more
than modern football. One newspaper article claimed
that “There is really very little kick in a game of col-
legiate football. It is principally a mass of struggling
humanity, with wildly protruding eyeballs, bruised and
wrenched limbs, (and) streaming apparel.” In the early
'90's both the University and the high school appointed
boards to control professionalism in athletics and pre-
vent the use of such tactics as slugging in football games.
During the 1880's the new high-wheeled bicycles
became popular among students and some of the
younger businessmen in town. Soon the sport was quite
the rage and several bicycle schools opened up to teach
people how to ride the “animal.” The modern bicycle
became available in the 1890's at a fairly low cost, and
the number of cyclists in town rose steadily. By the turn
of the century, there were between 2,500 and 3,000
bicycles in town. Through such organizations as the
League of American Wheelmen, cyclists were the first to
lobby for better roads. Junius Beal, the young editor of
the Ann Arbor Courier, was the first president of the
Michigan Division of the League of American Wheel-
men and active in the national association.
By the turn of the century, Ann Arbor was a prosper-
ing community, supported for the most part by its edu-
cational institutions and a few small manufacturing es-
tablishments. Over a very short period of time “Ann's
Arbour” had acquired most of the modern conveni-
ences available in the larger cities and yet had retained
its character as a fine residential town. While not all of
the problems of earlier years had been solved, the
citizens of Ann Arbor faced the new century with a sense
of accomplishment
SPECIAL PRIZE.
Piulite in pliere vir me, if of
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POSITION PRIZES:
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ENTRIES (LOSE SE!'T. 14
39
1880-1899

Feſt-Programm
Einweihung

der ev. Bethlehems Kirche zu Ann Arbor, Mich.
Sonntag, den 19. Jannar 1896.
METZ

19tand and purp Dent
Bethlehem Evangelical Church
Zion Lutheran Church
|
First Baptist Church
40
1880-1899

Unitarian Church


bi
-
118
Trinity Lutheran Church
First German Methodist Episcopal Church
41
1880-1899

II
.
1
1
Church of Christ

Second Baptist Church
42
1880-1899
+

III
St. Thomas Catholic Church

MT
St. Thomas School, ca. 1897
43
1880-1899

BE
BATHROOMS
1
1
1

Main Post Office, Northeast Corner of Main and Ann Streets
44
1880-1899
-

26 BACH&ABEL.26
PEN

SHIRTS
Letish
in Market
SONG DOLLAN
kout Shoe
WA
Ann Arbor High School Chapel, 1893
45
1880-1899

V
H
THE
Fire Station
46
1880-1899

WW
1239
IN
Looking Southwest from the Courthouse Tower, ca. 1893

76
CASARRNSEY GROCERIES PROVISIONS.
MEATS
INSUP
REAL
林芝
​47
1880-1899
Attention!

THE ANN ARBOR
ODORLESS EXCAVATOR
COMPANY,
Are now prepared to (lean your Vaults, C'esspools, Cisterns, Etc., in
first class shape. PERFECTLY ODORLESS, all work done in the
day time. Work linisher? in first-class manner or money refunded.
Call or address,
SWEET & WALLACE,
20 Spring St., and 13 Fountain St., Ann Arbor, Michigan.
48
1880-1899

Co. A on the Courthouse Steps Before Leaving for the Spanish-American War, April 26, 1898

WELCOME COA.
Main Street, from the North
49
1880-1899

M
Regents Field, from the Southwest,

A
AM
N
एम
KA
श्री
Ann Arbor High School Football Team, 1897-98
50
1880-1899


8
Bicycle Club, July 1887
51
1880-1899

es
BE
Michigan Central Railroad Depot

4 -L
Ann Arbor Railroad Depot
52
1900
1919
1900-1919
a source of electric power. In 1905 the Detroit Edison
Company and its subsidiary, Eastern Michigan Edison
Company, bought power sites along the river and
began to install generators in the Argo, Superior, Bar-
ton, and Geddes dams. Readily available electricity
stimulated industrial growth. Between 1910 and 1920
TH
मा
In 1901 the editor of the Ann Arbor Argus Democrat
concluded that "the century to come is undoubtedly
destined to be the richest and best that man has experi-
enced.” Ann Arbor citizens faced the twentieth century
with calm optimism which would stand them in good
stead. During the first decade of the twentieth century
local residents witnessed portents of dramatic change to
come. But during the second decade the pace of
change accelerated, propelling Ann Arborites into a
new world.
At the turn of the century, Ann Arbor was a small city
with 14,500 permanent residents. Of the white popula-
tion in 1900, half was either foreign born or had parents
who were foreign born. The foreign born came over-
whelmingly from Germany, and to a lesser extent from
Canada, England, and Ireland. Ethnic ties were strong,
particularly among the large German population.
Churches and schools helped maintain ethnic identities,
not only for the Germans, but also for the Catholic Irish
residents as well as the 359 members of Ann Arbor's
Black community.
Between 1900 and 1910, the town's population re-
mained stable, increasing by only 300 persons. Ten
years later, however, the size of the community had
grown to 19,516 souls. Immigrants from Greece, Italy,
Russia, and Poland settled in town. In 1920 about 13
per cent of Ann Arbor's population was foreign born,
compared to 20 per cent for the state. But Ann Arbor
attracted many more Blacks than the state as a whole. In
1920, there were 580 Black residents, about 3.0 per
cent of the city population, while statewide, Blacks
made up only 1.6 per cent of the population.
Economic and industrial developments underlying
these population changes followed a similar pattern:
slow growth in the first decade of the century followed
by a boom after the outbreak of war in 1914. In 1899,
the value of products manufactured in Ann Arbor was
$1,377,000. By 1914, it had climbed to $2,603,000.
Wartime demands sent the figure up to $9,794,000 in
1919. The average number of wage earners in man-
ufacturing climbed from 623 in 1899 to 1,612 in 1919.
Ann Arbor led all Michigan cities of its size in the growth
of industries between 1914 and 1919.
In 1900 Ann Arbor's industrial strength lay in light
manufacturing, milling, furniture making, piano build-
ing, brewing, gas fixtures, and rug making. Ann Arbor's
largest manufacturing interest in 1900 was milling. The
Michigan Milling Company was a conglomerate com-
posed of the Argo Flour Mill, the Ann Arbor City Mills,
Delhi Mills, the Ann Arbor Central Mills, and the Os-
borne Mill. The company also owned power sites and
cooperage plants. By 1913 its estimated output was one
million dollars a year.
Long essential to the milling industry, the importance
of the Huron River was enhanced by its development as

Hoover Steel Ball Company
heavy industry came to Ann Arbor with the establish-
ment of Economy Baler, Hoover Steel Ball, Machine
Specialty, Parker Manufacturing, American Broach and
Machine, and the Forge Products companies. Hoover
Steel Ball Company, one of the most important indus-
tries to come to town, was organized in 1913. It profited
by the outbreak of war and the British blockade which
eliminated German steel ball bearings from the Ameri-
can market. By 1917 the plant used 500 tons of steel a
month and produced 25 to 30 million ball bearings a
day.
Automotive production, however, never succeeded
in Ann Arbor. The ill-fated Huron River Manufacturing
Company, later the Star Motor Company, produced a
light delivery wagon-passenger car combination. It did
not survive the fierce competition of the burgeoning
auto industry. The high cost of living in Ann Arbor
meant higher wages and the distance from Detroit in-
creased the cost of materials to a point where profit
disappeared.
Contributing materially to Ann Arbor's expansion
was The University of Michigan, which had long pro-
vided a substantial economic base for the community.
Enrollment surged from 3,441 in 1899-1900 to 5,381
in 1909-10 and 9,041 in 1919-20. Student spending
stimulated commerce and the University building pro-
gram employed local contractors. As faculty and stu-
dents sought housing, residential development
boomed and the landladies prospered. Ann Arbor, fur-
nishing the labor and materials for University expan-
sion, fueled its own growth.
In the person of President James B. Angell, the
nineteenth century relinquished its hold on Ann Arbor.
Respected and beloved, he retired in 1909 after a presi-
dency of thirty-eight years. His funeral cortege in 1916
passed thousands of saddened students and
54
1900-1919
1
22
RANNEN
DAINTERS DECORATORS
LOCAL
OUNION
139
1901 Parade
townspeople, leaving them all to the fortunes of the
"golden years of growth.”
Under Angell's successor, Harry B. Hutchins, new
buildings radically altered the nineteenth-century
facade as the University pushed outward from its origi-
nal forty-acre plot. The West Medical Building, the West
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
April 12, 1904
Engineering Building, the Dental Building, Alumni
Memorial Hall, the Chemistry Building, Hill Au-
ditorium, the Power Plant, Martha Cook Building,
Helen Newberry Hall, the University Library, and the
Michigan Union were completed between 1901 and
1920.
Demands for reform swept the nation in the new
century as the country attempted to ameliorate social
strains caused by industrialization, urbanization, and
immigration. Although Ann Arbor did not face the ex-
tensive problems of larger cities, it nonetheless was
caught up in the ferment. As in many other places, the
competition for street railway franchises in the city
brought conflict. From 1900 to 1902 the Hawks-Angus
and the Boland companies fought for the right-of-way
through the city. Hawks-Angus won, but not before
violence between the two construction crews was nar-
rowly averted and not before the Ann Arbor Railroad,
fearing that interurban crews would tear up its tracks
where they crossed Huron Street, placed it #7 engine
across the street, blocking the electric tracks as well as
the sidewalk. “No one can now say that West Huron
Street is not one of the liveliest streets in the city,"
reported the Argus Democrat on September 13, 1901.
Under pressure from private citizens, the city re-
quired grade separations as a prerequisite for the grant-
ing of franchises. Ann Arborites had long demanded
that the Ann Arbor Railroad elevate its tracks above
west-side streets. As the interurban would have to cross
the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks at some point, grade
separation would be imperative. While the council de-
clared in 1902 that the Ann Arbor Railroad was to be
elevated on steel viaducts over Felch, Miller, Ann,
Huron, Washington, and Liberty streets, only the
Washington, Huron, and Miller separations were actu-
ally completed.
The service of the privately owned Ann Arbor Water
Company continued to be a source of tension. The
company offered to sell its holdings to the city for
$450,000, but council and Mayor Royal S. Copeland
felt the price was too high. Council then passed legisla-
tion requiring the company to lower its rates to levels
comparable to those in other cities of Ann Arbor's size.
Denying the city had the right to regulate rates, the
franchise nonetheless “voluntarily” lowered them in
1902. The city, however, claimed to have established
the principle of regulation.
In October, 1913, after another 11 years of inade-
quate and unsafe water, voters authorized the city to
buy out the company. A new municipal Water Works
Commission drew its water from the Huron River above
the newly constructed Barton Dam and from artesian
wells on West Washington near Eighth Street. The
commission introduced water purification by chlorina-

NOTICE
BOIL THE DRINKING WATER
I
I am advised by the Director of the
intory that while
the Ann Arbor water wes not con-
tain the specific bacillus of typhoid
fever, it has been slightly polluted
by the melting of the dirty snow.
and it should be boiled before it is
drunk

JAMES B. ANGELL.
President.
55
1900-1919
tion. With the use of liquid chlorine in 1915, Ann Arbor
was assured of a supply of pure water.
In the second decade of the century, reform move-
ments took on a new urgency and vitality. In 1912, for
example, Ann Arbor had two Socialist newspapers and
the Socialist Party made a creditable showing in the
municipal elections of 1913. Yet most citizens chose less
radical ideology and more conventional agencies to
effect change.
In 1913 the Ann Arbor Civic Association, an exten-
sion of the older Board of Commerce, incorporated
most of the reform groups into one organization that
1.
Barton Dam, ca. 1913
singled out for removal, especially the bins behind the
fire engine station near Tappan School on East Univer-
sity Avenue. The school children of Ann Arbor were
enlisted in the anti-fly campaign. Each child was given a
pamphlet, “Catechism on the Fly.” Five thousand fly-
swatters were distributed and bounties paid. The com-
mittee resolved in 1914 to be so united in our struggle
for the ideal human environment that we may be a 'City
with a Conscience."
This strong moral tone pervaded many of the ac-
tivities of Ann Arbor's concerned citizens. In 1911
Agnes Inglis, a social worker with the YWCA, shocked
the Ladies Union and the city with her report on moral
conditions prevailing in the city, especially the rapid
spread of “vile” diseases. In response to her indictment,
twelve women's organizations, led by the YWCA,
formed the Social Purity Club. The club called for sup-
pression of “objectionable places and public charac-
ters," enforcement of laws prohibiting sale of tobacco
and alcohol to minors, enforcement of curfew laws,
organization of the schools as neighborhood social cen-
ters, and the introduction of sex hygiene classes in the
schools.
Men were also caught up in the crusade for better
social and moral conditions. The Men and Religion
Forward Movement reached its peak about
1911-1912. This wholly male organization stressed
“male Christianity.” Twenty members headed a six-
month investigation into life in Ann Arbor in 1911. They
condemned the water company and its disregard for
public safety, violations of antitrust codes by druggists
and grocers, child labor, auto accidents, and saloons
which pandered to students.
A broad spectrum of businessmen, churches, and
women's groups agitated vigorously for prohibition. In
1909, Washtenaw County voted against the establish-
ment of prohibition in the county, 6,212 to 5,328. But
after an emotional campaign Ann Arbor voted solidly in
November 1916 for the bone-dry, statewide amend-
ment to prohibit “forever... the manufacture, sale, keep-
ing for sale, giving away, catering or furnishing of any
vinous, malt, brewed, fermented, spiritous or intoxicat-
ing liquors...” The state and city went dry on May 1,
1918, well before the inauguration of national prohibi-
tion. “John Barleycorn ‘passed away' more easily and
quietly than was generally expected,” reported the
Times News.
The emergence of women from the confines of the
home and from the restrictions of traditional roles accel-
erated, culminating in the drive for suffrage. Women
had been active in the Women's Christian Temperance
Union in Ann Arbor since 1874 and organized the Ann
Arbor Women's Federation Club in 1906 to educate
themselves on contemporary issues. As they became

pursued a conservative yet determined approach to
reform. The organization was still interested in attracting
industry and promoting commerce, but in recruiting
new members from University professors, professional
men, and women's organizations, it acquired additional
goals. The group now sought to improve water, food,
sanitation, housing, and labor conditions. It urged hon-
est and efficient administration of public affairs, and
attempted to promote community feeling among all the
citizens of the city.
The association instituted an elaborate committee
system. The City Beautiful Committee directed its ef-
forts toward the care of trees and shrubs and the estab-
lishment of better methods of garbage and rubbish
collection. The Agricultural Committee sought to im-
prove relations between the neighboring farmers and
the city. The association supported an active Good
Roads Committee. Under the prodding of another as-
sociation committee, a program of milk and meat in-
spection was begun. Lists of the dairymen and meat
suppliers meeting standards of quality and safety were
published.
The Sanitation Committee resolved to make Ann
Arbor the first dustless, smokeless, and flyless city. In
1913 and 1914 the committee declared war on the fly.
Manure bins, still common in Ann Arbor alleys, were
56
1900-1919
involved with social issues, women insisted on their
right to vote. The Ann Arbor Political Equality Club was
organized in 1894 and began a long, determined battle
to gain the ballot.
In November 1912 a statewide referendum on
female suffrage was presented to male voters. The men
of Ann Arbor narrowly approved the amendment.
Statewide, men were not so inclined and the amend-
ment was defeated. Six months later, a second attempt
also failed and Ann Arbor males reversed their earlier
decision and voted decisively against the amendment.
One local woman spoke for most of her co-workers: “I
miles per hour. On December 20 Edward Staebler
wrote despondently to the manufacturers: “I cannot
use the Trimoto to go between my residence and the
store for there is a hill to climb which the machine has
climbed but twice out of many trials and we do not care
to try any more because of the jeers from the onlook-
ers.'
In 1901 the Staeblers traded the Trimoto for a To-
ledo Steam Carriage. The Steamer was more successful
at climbing Ann Arbor's hills but broke down nearly as
often as the Trimoto. At the end of 1901, the Staeblers
were still the only automobile dealers in town and had

JUSTICE
EQUALITY
Why Women Want to Vote.
WOMEN ARE CITIZENS,
AND WISH TO DO THEIR CIVIC DUTY.
WORKING WOMEN need the ballot to regulate conditions under which they work.
Do working men think they can protect themselves without the right to vote?
HOUSEKEEPERS need the ballot to regulate the sanitary conditions under which
they and their familes must live.
Do MEN think they can get what is needed for their district unless they can
vote for the men that will get it for them?
MOTHERS need the ballot to regulate the moral conditions under which their chil-
dren must be brought up.
Do MEN think they can fight against vicious conditions that are theatening their
children unless they can vote for the men that run the district?
TEACHERS need the ballot to secure just wages and to influence the management
of the public schools.
Do MEN think they could secure better school conditions without a vote to elect
the Mayor who nominates the Board of Education?
BUSINESS WOMEN need the ballot to secure for themselves a fair opportunity in
their business
Do business MEN think they could protect themselves against adverse legislation
without the right to vote?
TAX PAYING WOMEN need the ballot to protect their property.
Do not MEN know that "Taxation without representation" is tyranny?
ALL WOMEN need the ballot, becausc they are concerned equally with men in
good and bad government; and equally responsible for civic righteousness.
Edward W. Staebler in a Toledo Steamer, ca. 1901
ALL MEN need women's help to build a better and juster government, and
WOMEN need MEN to help them secure their right to fulfil theis civic duties.
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Hradquarters: 505 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
have been working for suffrage for thirty-nine years and
I shall keep on working for it just as long as I live.” On
November 5, 1918, voters approved a state amend-
ment granting women the right to vote.
The first performance of the automobile in Ann
Arbor was hardly indicative of its ultimate impact. Hop-
ing to obtain a franchise, Staebler and Son, well-
established bicycle dealers, received a demonstrator
Trimoto on October 9, 1900. It had three wheels, a
gasoline engine, and weighed about 500 pounds. It
carried two people and reached a top speed of twelve
only the Toledo Steamer to demonstrate. Three other
cars appeared in 1901. One, a steam car, was built by
Ann Arbor resident Howard Coffin, a student in the
Engineering College. Coffin's steamer, which partici-
pated in the Labor Day parade of 1901, was assembled
in the Staebler bicycle shop.
Automobiles were slow to catch local fancy. Edward
Staebler noted in 1906 that, “This is a peculiar town.
Our population is 18,000 and we have not over a dozen
machines here. Half of those are used but very little.”
Eventually, however, the flexibility and mobility of the
automobile won converts. In 1908 there were forty cars
in Ann Arbor and in 1910, Mayor William Walz issued
the first rules for driving and parking. Service industries
related to the automobile grew as older trades declined.
In 1901 the city boasted nine blacksmiths, nine bicycle
shops, and nine liveries. By 1919 there were four black-
smiths, one bicycle shop and no liveries. In 1912
57
1900-1919
1
Walker's Livery was the city's largest livery with more
than thirty horses. The livery was famous for two teams
of pure white Arabians which were rented for funeral
processions. The horses and equipment were auc-
tioned off in 1914 and the livery became the Ann Arbor
Taxicab and Transfer Company. In 1919 fifteen estab-
lishments called themselves automobile garages, nine
firms advertised automobile repairs, and four adver-
tised automobiles for hire.
Active outdoor recreation became more popular as
the city became more urbanized and as more workers
were found indoors in factories, shops, and offices.
Improvement of scenic boulevards was coupled with
the creation of the city park system. In 1900 the city held
only Felch Park and Hanover Square. The City Park
Commission, formed in 1905, acquired nearly 145
acres of land in the following fourteen years. The nu-
cleus of the park and boulevard system was formed with
the establishment of Riverside Park, Island Park, West
Park, Burns Park, Glen Drive, Long Shore Drive, and
Allmendinger Park. A notable instance of city-university
cooperation was the creation of a large park on the east
side of town—now called the Arboretum—through the
joint development of land given to the University by Dr.
and Mrs. Walter Nichols and adjoining land bought by
the day, “Sweet Adeline," "Shine on Harvest Moon,
and “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” and whistled
“Alexander's Rag Time Band." The University Musical
Society offered concerts which were supplemented by
recitals of the St. Thomas Conservatory, the Kempf
Studios, and church choirs. Hill Auditorium, replacing
cramped and uncomfortable University Hall, opened in
1913, and offered comfortable listening to 4,000.
Theater, like music, had a long tradition in Ann
Arbor. Audiences, accustomed to the best in profes-
sional stage entertainment, were momentarily discon-
certed when the Athens Theatre closed between 1904
and 1908. In the interim, vaudeville became a staple
entertainment. By 1907, the new Bijou Theatre was
showing three performances a day including five
vaudeville acts, two polyscope numbers, and an illus-
trated song. The Majestic Theatre, a converted roller
skating rink, also presented vaudeville.
The vitality of vaudeville was threatened by the flick-
ering lights of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope. Motion
pictures, short and silent, were at first regarded as novel-

the city.
REMEMBER
BELGIUM
Buy Bonds
Fourth
Liberty
Lonn
1
The Huron River, the focal point of many scenic
drives, also provided more active recreation. Relaxed
and romantic, boating and canoeing had long been
popular. But swimming was appealing, especially to the
children during Ann Arbor's hot and humid summers.
In 1914 the first municipal swimming beach was built by
the city, and in 1917 the Huron Farm Company im-
proved the beach and built a bath house. Golfing be-
came the rage. In 1900, the first local golf club was
organized. The Ann Arbor Golf and Outing Club played
on a course southeast of Ferry Field and Ann Arborites
took the interurban to the Washtenaw Country Club
between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.
The impetus toward organized sports and athletics
was hastened by the success of University teams. Field-
ing Yost came to Michigan in 1901 and built the nation-
ally famous “point-a-minute” teams of 1901-1905
-teams which won 55 games, lost one, and tied one.
His first team at Michigan was undefeated and held the
opponents scoreless. Amid national excitement, it went
on to the first Rose Bowl game in January 1902 and
defeated Stanford 49 to 0. Football became the fall
mania for both University and city fans. Over 17,000
fans jammed into the last game held in old Regents Field
in 1905. New athletic facilities on Ferry Field were
necessary to accommodate the crowds which were
running close to 20,000 persons by 1915.
Music, both popular and classical, was frequently
heard in Ann Arbor. Townfolk hummed the song hits of
1
1
58
1900-1919
The war also mobilized civilians, particularly women.
Ann Arbor women led the work of the Red Cross and
Washtenaw County Women's Committee, part of the
Council of National Defense. Every woman in the city
was urged to register with the committee and to volun-
teer time and skills to fill the places of men away at the
front. Housewives observed “meatless days,” “wheat-
less days,” and “sweetless days" to conserve food. Five
Liberty Loan drives were promoted by patriotic ap-
peals. Gardening became popular as a way to aid
"Uncle Sam" and as a means to beat the war-related
inflation.
The war thoroughly disrupted University life. Two
student naval militia units which had been organized in
1916 were quickly mobilized in 1917. Over 1,800 stu-
dents joined the ROTC in the fall of 1917. Students
volunteered for the armed forces as well; enrollment
declined by about 1,500 from that of the previous
spring and some 400 men left school during the fall
term. Red Cross activities and bond drives occupied the
remaining students.
NATIONAL
SECURIT
LEAGUE
ties but proved to have enormous popular appeal.
"Movies" were used initially as features between
vaudeville acts at the Star, Bijou, and Majestic theaters.
In 1906 and 1907, promoters built the Theatorium, the
Casino, and the People's Popular Family Theatre to
show movies exclusively. Popular taste rapidly turned
to Pearl White in “The Perils of Pauline,” to slapstick
comedians like the Keystone Cops, and to westerns
starring Tom Mix and William S. Hart. The Orpheum,
the Temple, the Arcade, the Columbia, the Rae, and
the Wuerth Arcade theaters rushed into business to
satisfy public demand.
War created ethnic tensions that had been virtually
non-existent in a community that had easily accommo-
dated Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic traditions. Residents
of Germanic descent retained strong ties with the old
country. The University, modeled on the German uni-
versity, admired and respected Teutonic educational
and cultural traditions. Over a quarter of the students in
the University were enrolled in classes in the Depart-
ment of Germanic Languages and Literature. Yet the
ties of blood and affection with England and common
traditions of law, democratic institutions, language, and
literature sustained a strong feeling for England.
At first most Ann Arborites agreed with President
Wilson's plea to be “impartial in thought as well as
action.” However, the German conquest of neutral
Belgium and submarine warfare made many agree with
Professor Claude Van Tyne in condemning “Prussian
militarism and German arrogance." In December 1914
the National Security League was founded to support
universal military training, military preparedness, pa-
triotism, and the extermination of values which were
"un-American." The Ann Arbor branch under Van
Tyne and William Hobbs was energetic and vigilant.
America entered the Great War to make the world
“safe for democracy” in April 1917. In the first total war
in history, nations mobilized the energies of whole
societies, civilians and soldiers alike. Ann Arbor's mili-
tary unit, Company I of the Thirty-first Michigan Volun-
teer Infantry, was mobilized into the Army of the United
States on August 5, 1917. To the disappointment of
many who cherished the independent traditions of the
local company, the Army reorganized the Michigan
National Guard into Company E of the 126th Infantry
under the command of Captain Arthur G. Volland of
Ann Arbor. They mobilized at Grayling, Michigan;
trained in Waco, Texas; embarked from Hoboken, New
Jersey; and arrived in France on March 4, 1918. Ann
Arbor's “doughboys” tested their mettle in severe fight-
ing in Alsace, at Château-Thierry, and in the Meuse-
Argonne. Company E left Europe in April 1919 after
serving in the army of occupation. Other Ann Arbor
men volunteered or were drafted into regular army
units.

NATIONAL
SECURITY
LEAGUE
BE
PATRIOTIC
Give a Moment's Service
to Your Country
IT NEEDS YOU
Write TODAY to your Senators and
Congressman.
Urge universal training of youths under
twenty years of age.
Demand adequate Army and Navy as
asked for by Army and Navy Experts
HELP PROTECT U. S. A.
Join the NATIONAL SECURITY LEAGUE, Inc.
3H PINE STREET
NEW YORK
BRANCHES EVERYWHERE
MEMBERSHIP
DUES
Annual $1
Contributing $5
Life $25
Founder $100 up
Ann Arbor Branch 1705
Cha M. Oldrin Sec Treat (15 Main St
Write for allem
59
1900-1919
USE
THE
THE HANDKERCHIEF PUBLIC
AND
DO
YOUR
BIT TO
PROTECT
ME!
TREASURY DEPARTMENT
UNITED STATES
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
COLDS, INFLUENZA, PNEUMONIA, AND
TUBERCULOSIS ARE SPREAD THIS WAY
In April 1918 the University acceded to a War De-
partment request to train non-college draftees as gun-
smiths, machinists, blacksmiths, carpenters, and
mechanics. By November, over 2,000 men had had
two months of training in Ann Arbor. Early the same
year the Students Army Training Corps was initiated by
the War Department. At one point that year, 3,750 men
on campus were involved in military programs, placing
intense strain on housing facilities. The unfinished
Michigan Union was used as a barracks for 400 men
and a mess hall for 4,000. A temporary mess hall for
1,900 was set up next to the Union. Waterman Gym
was used as a barracks as were 35 fraternity houses.
The energy displayed by war advocates was often
misdirected against anyone suspected of unpatriotic
actions, words, or even thoughts. Intense anti-German
feeling swept the state and nation. It became unpopu-
lar, if not unpatriotic, to play German music, to speak or
read German. Enrollment in German courses in the
University dropped from 1,300 to 150. In the name of
the National Security League, Van Tyne attacked Uni-
versity employees suspected of pacifism, disloyalty, or
“subversive” thought. Many citizens of German de-
scent suffered from suspicion and anti-German prop-
aganda. The Washtenaw Post, a local German lan-
guage newspaper, was barred from the United States
mail. Editor Eugene Heller advised his readers, “The
day is not far distant when we loyal citizens must make
ourselves ready to prove our loyalty before the court. In
the meantime, endure, keep your mouth shut and hold
out.”
In the fall of 1918 the dread Spanish influenza pan-
demic struck down hundreds. The University was espe-
cially hard hit because of overcrowded, jerry-rigged
housing and sanitary facilities. The first death occurred
on October 6. With over 200 cases of flu in the city and
many more on the campus, the city health officer, on
October 16, ordered all auditoriums, churches,
theatres, dance halls, and other places of public assem-
bly closed indefinitely. Public schools were closed the
next day. All members of the faculty and students were
ordered to wear face masks, and local citizens were
urged to do the same. The Daily Times News reported
on October 18 that “The campus looks like a Turkish
harem this morning with all the students and faculty
members wearing their gauze masks, with President
Hutchins leading the procession with a mask that looks
like an Oriental rug.'
The epidemic abated during November and the ban
on public assembly was lifted on November 9, all
theatres and movie houses having been thoroughly
fumigated. The death toll was heavy; 115 persons died
during October alone. About half the deaths were
among local citizens, including five nurses, a prominent
physician, and a hospital janitor.
Sacrifices, anxiety, and contention were forgotten on
November 11, 1918, when the Armistice was an-
nounced. “Joy has been unconfined in Ann Arbor
today,” reported the Times News, “Practically all busi-
ness in the city is suspended." Receiving the news at 3
a.m., Mayor Ernst Wurster called out the fire truck while
Judge George Sample rushed to the courthouse to ring
the bell. By 4 a.m. an enormous bonfire was blazing at
the corner of Main and Huron. Regent Junius Beal
ordered the sounding of the big whistle at the University
Power Plant.
In spite of the sleepless night, the city quickly or-
ganized a gigantic parade. The city bands, student sol-
diers, state troops, the Colored Soldiers, the Welfare
League, the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts, city offi-
cials, and school children paraded through the city,
ending on the steps of Hill Auditorium for a songfest.
Reform agitation and mobilization for all-out war had
strained but not broken Ann Arbor's sense of commu-
nity. Conversion to peacetime was to take more than a
songfest, however. Postwar prosperity and inflation, the
contraction of wartime industry, and the expansion of
the University and resulting construction boom were to
exert subtle yet powerful pressures. The hyperactive
rhythms of ragtime were to be an apt symbol for Ann
Arbor in the 1920's.
60
1900-1919

SON
MILLING C
NO
Ann Arbor Milling Company at Argo and Broadway Bridge

ARNARBOR
CENTRAL
KING AND WHITE LOAF FLOUR
GOLD
BUCKWHEAT
DUST GRAHAN
AND
MEAL RYEFLOUR
Central Flouring Mill, 212 S. First Street
61
1900-1919

主
​62
1900-1919

#
Hose Company, No. 3, September 17, 1906

co
63
1900-1919

GREETINGS FROM
ANN ARBOR. MICH
Cedar Bend above Island Park, ca. 1907

wo 1907
GREETINGS FROM
ANN ARBOR. MUSH
Island Park Band Concert
ABA
64
1900-1919
-

ZYNDON

A.S.DOR
ES ON THE ISLAND
65
1900-1919

7
SPE
778
7754
FRIDARAY 5
SWST
Interurban Crew, 1908

475
Donovan School, February 1911
66
1900-1919

Coach Yost buys a Liberty Bond
,

Fielding Yost Buys a Liberty Bond
HADDE
YWCA,
ca. 1914
67
1900-1919

MITTED
ats
Ferry Field Gates, ca. 1908

Main and Huron, from the East, ca. 1915
68
1900-1919

State Street, from the Southeast, Spring 1916

Northeast Ann Arbor from Cedar Bend
69
1900-1919

BEST 01
YMCA
Bor v79 of
SAMNICA
Van's Marine Band, ca. 1916

James B. Angell Funeral Cortege, April 3, 1916
70
1900-1919
NOTICE
SELECTIVE DRAFT
REGISTRATION
TO BE HELD ON
TUESDAY, JUNE 5. 1917
AT THE REGULAR VOTING PRECINCT (WHICH WILL
BE OPEN FROM 7 A. M. UNTIL 9 P. M.) OF THE
COUNTY OF WASHTENAW, STATE OF MICHIGAN
On tho abovo dato, according to Soction 5 of tho Act of Congross,
approved May 18th, 1917, the following porsons are required to
rogistor:
Malo porsons who shall havo attained thoir 21st birthday,
and shall not havo attalnod their 31st birthday on or before
the day sot for registration by the President, must register.
Tho only oxcoptions are persons in the military or naval
servico of the United States, which includes all ofticors and
onlisted mon of the Rogular Army, the Navy, the Marino
Corps, and the National Guard and Naval Militia, whilo in
the sorvico of the United States, and officers in the Officers'
Reserve Corps and enlisted mon in Enlisted Rosorve Corps
whilo in activo servico. All malo civil officers of tho United
States, of the sovoral States, Torritorios, and the District of
Columbia, within the designatod ages must rogistor. All
malo porsons within the designated agos ongaged in mak-
Ing tho prosont rogistration must register.
Exocutivo Board of Registration for Washtonaw County
HERMAN G. LINDENSCHMITT, Sheriff
EDWIN SMITH, County Clork
DR. R. G. MACKENZIE, Medical Examiner
May 24, 1917
IVX ARBOR PRESS
71
1900-1919

Tuesda,
SATC Troops Build a Temporary Mess Hall near the Michigan Union, 1918

Il
PACKAGE
HORON
KC
45
Armistice Day Parade, 1918
72
G
CCI
DEL
G
1920-1929
Ann Arbor during the 1920's experienced more than
the cosmetic changes associated most often with the
"jazz age." True, the University students sported "zoot
suits,” drove rickety jalopies, performed the “Black
Bottom," and drank homemade hootch at the football
games. But it was a controversy over the construction of
a gas station at Washtenaw and South University during
the winter of 1921-22 that determined the future shape
of the city.
Prior to World War I, the University and the city had
asked Olmsted Brothers, the famous New York Park
Planning firm, to recommend how Ann Arbor might
profitably direct its growth. The report was completed in
the spring of 1922. It emphasized Ann Arbor's attrac-
tiveness as a residential city, free from the slums and
congestion of other cities. To preserve a pastoral at-
mosphere, the Olmsteds recommended that areas out-
side industrial and University districts be rigidly
zoned." They insisted the city retain its spacious feel-
ing. The West Side was designated as the location for
factory sites and homes for workingmen. The area east
unprofitable to change over to peacetime production
and faded away. Large expenditures in the 1920's for
capital improvements by the University and city kept
the cost of living high, hindering the establishment of
additional manufacturing enterprises. Better roads,
however, enhanced Ann Arbor's already good reputa-
tion as a residential community for higher income
groups who could afford to live in, or near, the city.
In this light, a gas station in a residential area was a
serious break with tradition. On March 6, 1922, council
passed a limited law governing the location of buildings.
It required the permission of surrounding property
owners and council before a gas station could be placed
in a residential or educational area. That fall developers
opened Ann Arbor's first apartment house to house
University staff and married students. Probable con-
struction of another at Hill and Washtenaw elicited a
public demand to limit apartment building.
At the same time, the University had to destroy much
of old fraternity row along State Street to construct the
new Law School. Given the pressure on existing hous-
ing, fraternities and sororities were increasing in num-
bers and membership. With property values rising
around the central campus, the University wanted the
city to grant fraternities and sororities freedom in re-
locating.
In March 1923 council passed the city's first com-
prehensive zoning law. The Olmsted recommendations
and the University's needs were reflected in its attention
to the location of gas stations, apartments, and frater-
nities. Under its provisions, apartments, together with
rooming and boarding houses, were restricted to the
area immediately around the University. Retail trade,
including gas stations, and commercial and industrial”
developments were confined to separately defined
zones. Private homes, including fraternity and sorority
houses, had freedom to locate in the University area or
in the first-class residential district. The zoning law, to-
gether with the influence of the Olmsted report on
future council actions in approving housing plats, gov-
erned the city's subsequent growth.
During the 1920's the University regained its domi-
nance of the town's economy. Enrollment reached
8,900 in 1920, almost 2,700 more than the prewar
record of 1916-17, and peaked at approximately
10,200 in the fall of 1926-27. Numbers of graduate and
professional students rose rapidly throughout the de-
cade. Larger numbers of students strained available
housing. Rents increased and many were forced into
inadequate or far-distant quarters.
The State of Michigan, buoyed by increased income
from the auto industry, dramatically raised the
University's appropriation for operating expenses from
$1.6 million in 1919 to $4.9 million in 1929. As a result,
the University hired more employees at better wages.

North End Industrial Area

Engineering Department, University of Michigan
of Washtenaw and south of Geddes, designed with
winding streets to discourage traffic, was seen as the
place for "suburban and country homes," a "beautiful
district."
Ann Arbor was a showcase for the Olmsteds' ideas.
In a town dominated by a University and a nine-month
calendar, much of the war-spawned industry found it
1
74
1920-1929
The number of faculty, staff, and support personnel
expanded in proportion to the growing research and
maintenance responsibilities. By 1929, the University
paid over $6 million in wages to some 3,000 em-
ployees, about one-half million dollars and 250 em-
ployees more than the combined total for all local man-
ufacturing and retail trade.
In addition to more operating income, the State pro-
vided approximately $11 million over ten years for
construction of new research and classroom facilities.
The University supplemented these funds with an even
greater amount raised from private gifts, revenue
bonds, and athletic department profits. Beginning in the
winter of 1921-22, the University launched a massive
construction program which peaked about 1925. The
central campus virtually doubled in size at the expense
of the old rooming and boardinghouse district.
Around the original 40 acres, new landmarks ap-
peared: the Clements Library in 1923; the new Litera-
ture Building (Angell Hall), the Physics Building (Ran-
dall Lab), East Engineering, and University High School
(half of the present School of Education) in 1924; the
new Medical Building (C. C. Little) and the first portion
of the new Law School, consisting of the Lawyers'
Club, dining hall, and dorm, in 1925; the Museums
Building and School of Architecture in 1928; and the
Michigan League in 1929. Most of the new facilities
were research and classroom facilities designed to meet
the increase in enrollment, the growth in graduate and
professional education, and the emphasis on academic
and business-oriented research. At the end of the de-
cade, the University was finishing construction of the
Law Library, John B. Cook Dorm, and Mosher-Jordan
Hall, all scheduled for completion in 1930.
While the expansion of central campus continued,
the University finished work on the hospital complex
and built its modern athletic plant. The hospital com-
plex increased Ann Arbor's capacity as a major medical
resource center. On the athletic campus, completion of
Yost Field House in 1923 increased the seating for
basketball from 2,200 to 12,500. The present Michigan
Stadium, opened in 1927, provided seating for 85,000
as compared to 21,000 at Ferry Field. The Intramural
Building and the Women's Athletic Building opened in
1928. With the exception of the stadium, whose funds
came from revenue bond sales which guaranteed seat-
ing preference, football profits financed all the athletic
improvements.
The expansion of the University's facilities had great
impact on the city's appearance, necessitating the de-
struction or removal of housing and the closing and
opening of streets. Houses on the hospital site were
moved to University and Washington Heights while
those from the stadium location were transferred to new
locations off Main Street. Some of the existing houses
on central campus were also placed on University and
Washington Heights or on vacant lots throughout the
city. Many others were destroyed.
The expansion of the central campus destroyed
much of the old rooming, boarding, and fraternity
house district. Many houses were razed or moved so far
from campus that under the zoning law, they were
unable to fill their original function. The dislocation
brought a proliferation of restaurants and the relocation
of fraternities. The development of new alternatives in
student housing followed, first in the growth of frater-
nities and apartments and then in the University pro-
gram for dormitories.
Between 1920 and 1925 the number of restaurants
nearly doubled to accommodate the larger student
population. At first, many were cafeterias and tiny
eating-places. Greek-Americans began to assume a
greater role in the ownership and operation of the new
facilities. By the end of the decade, the growth in res-
taurants slowed, but newer ones were larger and of-
fered better quality food at higher prices. By 1930
Greek-Americans were solidly established as local res-
tauranteurs, just as German-American restaurants were
making their appearance.
The golden age of fraternities and sororities in Ann
Arbor was the 1920's. With the scarcity of housing, they
increased greatly in numbers and membership among
those who could afford them. By the fall of 1922, they
housed some 20 per cent of the student body, and by
1925 their membership was double the prewar total. In
1926, about 3,000 students, 32 per cent of the men and
22 per cent of the women, lived in fraternity and sorority
houses.
As they lost earlier homes to University expansion
and as property values rose near campus, fraternities
and sororities moved farther out. At first they bought
former private residences whose previous owners
moved off the main thoroughfares into the interior east
of Washtenaw or Barton Hills. But during the second
half of the decade they built larger and more magnifi-
cent houses of their own. Left to alumni control, without
University or landlady supervision and located farther
from campus, fraternities became a nuisance to their
residential neighbors.
To help meet the need for moderately-priced hous-
ing for non-fraternity/sorority students, a group of
alumni in 1923 constructed Fletcher Hall dormitory for
325 men. New nurses' and law school dorms also
helped, but the severe crush on housing continued
throughout the decade. As land values rose near the
University, new high-cost apartments replaced older
buildings. In addition to being higher priced, apart-
ments were also free of landlady control, which further
added to the increasing problem of student rowdyism
and bootlegging at the end of the decade.
75
1920-1929
1
1
.
Capital improvements were not limited to the Uni-
versity. The Ann Arbor public schools also completed
major improvements. In 1920, to upgrade over-
crowded and outdated facilities unable to accommo-
date the postwar influx of young couples with children,
the electorate approved $750,000 for new grade
schools, and two years later passed an equal amount for
additional facilities. That fall three new grade schools
opened, and by the end of 1924 another new grade
school and improvements to the two remaining ones
were finished. At this time the junior high school plan
was initiated. The new University High School opened
in 1924. By the end of the decade, St. Thomas com-
pleted a new facility and the University Elementary
School was almost finished.
1
At the beginning of the decade, Ann Arbor's only
physical contact with the outside world was by interur-
ban, train, or a bumpy ride by horse or car over dirt
roads. In 1921 the first paved road to Jackson was
opened. Three years later the stretch between Ann
Arbor and Ypsilanti was paved, completing the through
road to Detroit. By early 1927 Ann Arbor had two
hard-surfaced roads all the way to Detroit and two to
Chicago. At the end of the decade it had intercity buses,
frequent train services, and a fledgling airport which
entitled it to airmail service.
With the growing importance of the automobile, the
city moved to improve its streets. In 1921 pavement
covered fifteen miles, or less than a quarter of the city's
total and that included only the major thoroughfares
and downtown streets used by business and manufac-
turing. There were virtually no curbs or gutters any-
where in the city. By 1919 some thirty-four miles, nearly
fifty per cent of the city's total, were hard-surfaced.
Almost every street in town had been curbed, guttered,
and graveled in preparation for paving.
While the city responded with improved roads, pri-
vate individuals were building special houses for their
automobiles. Even in 1920 and 1921, when the high
cost of materials limited construction projects, local res-
idents began a garage-building spree which lasted
throughout the decade. Virtually every family residence
erected in the '20's had a special house for its au-
tomobile, and many occupants of older homes replaced
the high stable with a rectangular garage.
As automobiles increased in number and speed, the
streets became unsafe places in which to walk or play.
The city pushed a program of sidewalk construction
outside main shopping areas, and by 1924 required
that walkways be concrete. With vacant lots rapidly
disappearing and the streets unsafe, parks ceased being
merely nature preserves in the midst of the city where
one could walk or picnic. They became “playgrounds”
with ball diamonds, tennis courts, and “playground
equipment.” Schools added play yards, and in 1926
the electorate approved a special bond issue for the
purchase of more park land and playground facilities.
By the end of the decade the city directory stopped
using the term “parks” in favor of the more accurate
“parks and playgrounds."
Ann Arbor's traffic problem was compounded each
fall and spring by the great numbers of non-resident
students who by reason of need or social fashion also
drove. President Leroy Burton's request to parents in
1923 that they keep their sons' and daughters' cars at
home failed to have noticeable effect, in part because of
the profitable business of selling cheap used cars to
students. The editor of the Michigan Alumnus com-
mented that there were two types of automobiles:
"those which may be sold to the general public” and

PRESENT
BUILDING
ADDITION
Philip Bach School

RE
PRESENT
BUILDING
-ADDITION
W. S. Perry School
The automobile provided a key to Ann Arbor's
growth and its relations with the outside world. In 1920
Ann Arbor, like the rest of America, was divided be-
tween the horse and the car. There were two gas sta-
tions, two feed barns, and four blacksmith shops in
town. By 1925, the feed barns and blacksmith shops
had disappeared. But there were fifteen gas stations,
and by 1930, forty-two. In conjunction with improved
roads, private cars dealt the coup de grâce to the in-
terurban and hurt a struggling city bus system.
1
1
76
1920-1929
LF
Bus Operating out of Ann Arbor
ANN ARBOR
M I CH I GAN
THE CITY OF HOMES AND THE
HOME OF THE UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN
"those which nobody but an undergraduate will buy."
Many of the vehicles, selling for as little as $18 or $25,
were unroadworthy, and accidents resulted from in-
adequate brakes and steering. Poor driving habits also
contributed to the accident rate. In the spring of 1924
council passed a law aimed particularly at University
students. It forbade more than two adults in the front
seat and anyone sitting on the driver's lap.
Even without student autos, Ann Arbor had a full
quota of cars by the mid '20's. Restrictions on student
driving seemed inevitable. In 1927 the Regents, react-
ing to many serious automobile accidents, passed a ba
on all student driving except with special permission. A
special campus policeman was appointed to insure
compliance with the regulations.
The automobile altered recreational life for Ann Ar-
borites. A drive through the countryside replaced the
canoe trip down the Huron. A favorite destination was
Whitmore Lake. Once a social center for special occa-
sions, such as class, church, or fraternal picnics, only a
single hotel had graced its wooded shores. Now the lake
was encircled by the summer cottages of Ann Arbor
residents and the shoreline featured a number of hotels
and boardinghouses, two dance halls, and several large
bathing beaches.
Whatever its advantages, the automobile had some
undesirable side effects. According to the contemporary
observers, it introduced "crime" into Ann Arbor. In
February 1924 armed robbers got $100 from the Ann
Arbor Fuel Company, and in March 1926, $3,000 from
the Majestic Theater. The media saw these occurrences
as an indication that Ann Arbor was becoming a “big
city.” Actual crimes were invariably attributed to out-
siders who “got away by car toward Detroit"'; or burg-
lars who "came to town" for the evening.
Under the impact of the automobile, Ann Arbor ex-
panded outward beyond the streetcar tracks, and more
affluent individuals who worked elsewhere began to
move into the area. While Ann Arbor always had a
significant number of well-to-do residents who worked
outside the city, they increased at a great rate, numeri-
cally and proportionally, during the latter half of the
decade. By the early '20's they had already established
a pattern of leaving Ann Arbor during the warm weather
for summer homes at nearby lakes.
Outside the city limits, planned suburban develop-
ments attracted affluent newcomers, many of whom
were associated with the prosperous Detroit automobile
industry. The first major suburban development was
Barton Hills, located north and west of the city in the
hills around Barton Pond, which Detroit Edison created
to supply its downriver power facility. Initially it became
the home of higher income Ann Arbor natives who
commuted into town by car. With the completion of

"The James B. Angell
Automobile Tour"
1
TEXT PREPARED
BY
HERBERT A. JUMP
An automobile route about and around
Ann Arbor, passing the main points of in-
terest in the City and covering the most
attractive portions of the country adjacent
to the City. The tour is about eighteen
miles in length and will require about one
and one-half hours. Directions for the
automobile route are printed in large type
and descriptive text in small type.
PUBLISHED BY THE
ANN ARBOR BRANCH OF THE
DETROIT AUTOMOBILE CLUB
>
1925
77
1920-1929
192.7
Auto, Reg.
Form 2.
REGISTRATION AND
PERMIT TO OPERATE MOTOR VEHICLI 105
University of Michigan
May 16
Frances V. Miller, No. Betsy Barbowe St.
is hereby given permission to operate from February 11, 1927 to
June 15, 1927 the care described below. Driver's Licensel89904
Make and Type Bush Canal 25-26.icense Noleb say
on the ground set forth in the application dated Sh/27
24
DEAN OF STUDENTS
U-M Student Driving Permit, 1927
new educational facilities and intercity roads, it attracted
residents from the west side of Detroit as well. At the end
of the decade, its developers, a subsidiary of the Detroit
Edison Company, advertised it to a selected clientele as
“Detroit's most attractive suburban community.” By
1930 increasing numbers of high-income Ann Arbor
residents were commuting to work outside the city while
low-paid service workers were commuting into Ann
Arbor from their homes in nearby communities.
All the new high-income areas featured golf courses
to supply the need for exercise among their professional
and managerial residents. In some cases, such as Bar-
ton Hills, the golf course preceded houses as an in-
ducement to settlement. All the best developments plat-
ted golf courses together with housing sites in their
promotional literature.
In addition to bringing enormous income and new
residents, the building boom brought great numbers of
construction workers to the city. By the end of the
decade construction projects employed every skilled
craftsman in Ann Arbor and its surrounding com-
munities and some from as far away as southern On-
tario. In the case of the Law School, workers came from
the British Isles. The initial University expansion em-
ployed in semi or unskilled jobs factory workers laid off
in the slump of 1922-23 and University students on
summer vacation. But with the return of industrial pros-
perity and the spread of construction projects to the
private sector, increasing numbers of unskilled and
semiskilled workers were imported from elsewhere in-
creasing the crush on available rental housing.
Many of the heavy laborers were Black. The Black
community was one of the fastest growing elements of
Ann Arbor's population, rising sixty-two per cent from
580 to 940 during the decade. Most came to work in
construction and stayed to work in the new fraternity
houses or as cleaning ladies for Ann Arbor's growing
affluent community. By the close of the decade their
confinement in Ann Arbor's remaining low-rent districts
and their attempts to expand beyond them began to
generate conflict in the community.
The movement of construction workers into the city,
particularly from rural areas, encouraged the growth of
mission and holiness churches, such as the Evangelistic
Mission, Gospel Mission, Church of God in Christ, First
Spiritual Church of Truth, Free Methodist, and Pilgrim
Holiness.
Despite the growth in evangelical Protestant sects,
few new churches were built. Many congregations re-
modeled their quarters, while German-American con-
gregations were the only ones to finance major new
construction. St. Paul's Evangelical Church moved
from the expanding West Park to a new building at West
Liberty and Third, while Calvary Evangelical rose to
serve the growing German-American population on the
North Side. The Jewish congregation secured its first
permanent home, and the Greek Orthodox Church
expanded its rented quarters.
Most of the established churches spent increasing
amounts of money in serving the University commu-
nity. The Roman Catholics erected a new headquarters
for student work, and by 1925 they and the Protestants
supported more than a half dozen pastors and sec-
retaries with aid in excess of $50,000 annually. A great
interest in religion prevailed at the University. In the
early '20's University officials gave serious considera-
tion to starting a School of Religion. From 1925 on, the
University opened Hill Auditorium each Sunday to
well-attended non-denominational services.
The ethnic mix of the city's inhabitants changed dur-
ing the '20's. The proportion of native-born Americans
rose as the war and new laws ended the great waves of
immigration. Affluent newcomers from old-line
families, who occupied executive and managerial posi-
tions in the automobile industry or faculty and staff
positions at the University, moved into Ann Arbor.
While the German element remained strong, it di-
minished in relative importance. Except for the old-
timers, the Ann Arbor German community ceased
speaking its native language during World War I, but
retained its cultural traditions. By the end of the 1920's,
due in part to the new immigration laws, English re-
placed German as the leading language of Ann Arbor's
foreign born. Canada supplied most of the immigration
since it was exempt from the restrictions of the new laws
and was close to Ann Arbor's expanding labor market.
Ann Arbor's boom came in a period of rapid national
change which affected traditional social mores. The
'20's were known as the "jazz age” and Ann Arbor
participated fully in it. Movies, dancing, and the soda
fountain were popular diversions. The radio, whether a
smart little box or a “console," was a must for every
home.
With the adoption of prohibition, the soda fountain
emerged as a recreational and social center. Many con-
fectioners added a soda fountain as did most drug-
stores. By the early '20's soda fountains and ice cream

78
1920-1929
element was a pacesetter in adopting the new custom,
and by the end of the decade even “respectable”
women were smoking cigarettes.
But these were the flashy symptoms of Ann Arbor's
participation in the Jazz Age. Zoning laws, residential
patterns, University expansion, and the automobile had
made their mark on the city and were here to stay. The
impending Great Depression was not to alter the pat-
tern of Ann Arbor's development.
18:23
may 8
1923
parlors were well established in Ann Arbor and their
popularity lasted throughout the decade.
The increasing popularity of dancing touched not
only the University, local high schools, and public dance
halls, but also small restaurants and confectionery
shops. During the 20's there was dancing every night at
the Hut and the Den, two restaurants at either end of the
University diagonal, and at Drake's Sandwich Shop on
North University. Granger's Academy on Maynard en-
tertained record crowds. Also the new Union and
League buildings were always open for weekend danc-
ing. By 1925 local dance hall proprietors estimated they
earned $80,000 yearly from University students alone.
Movies were another great source of popular enter-
tainment. The town had two clusters of picture
shows," one near campus and the other on Main Street,
As an indication of their attraction, student riots of the
'20's focused on gaining free admission to theaters.
Two of the three near campus invariably closed for the
summer when the students left, but the rest were always
open and busy. By 1924 lines of as many as 1,500
frequently stood outside the largest of them, the Majes-
tic on Maynard Street. In January 1928 the largest of
the movie palaces, the Michigan, opened with seating
for 2,200. By the spring of 1929 sound movies ap-
peared in Ann Arbor, first at the Wuerth Theater down-
town, and a week later, at the Michigan.
Michigan went "dry'' on the eve of America's entry
into World War I. Ann Arbor—and the nation—went
from overwhelming popular support of prohibition to
open violation in a matter of months. Some saloon
owners who sadly closed their doors, later reopened a
new business under another name at a more secluded
location. Early in 1920 city council was aroused by the
sudden appearance of “Turkish coffee houses,” which
acquired a reputation as replacements for the saloon
and particularly for gambling. Council responded with
an ordinance regulating their hours and specifically for-
bidding any gambling or card playing on their premises.
Groups which had never tried alcohol suddenly
found it socially acceptable. The more affluent element,
which had traditionally been “tee-totalling," was
caught by the “rage." By the end of the '20's the
cocktail party was well on its way to being an accepted
norm of “polite society." The youth were particularly
affected, and by the mid-20's drinking at University
fraternity parties aroused local residents and University
authorities. As the decade closed, the consumption of
alcohol was spreading throughout all elements of Ann
Arbor's population.
Cigarette smoking also grew increasingly popular. By
1923 an observer noted the enormous cloud of smoke
hanging over Michigan's stadium. The University and
local businesses designed their new buildings to be as
fireproof as possible, both because of increased electri-
cal wiring and increased smoking. Again, the younger

79
1920-1929

MARTIN
Barton Hills School Bus

us
CORE
5578-32
University Hospital,
ca. 1930
80
1920-1929

Michigan Central Depot

Dalberton bams
APB - C AIRLINE CORP
LANSINGICH.
2830 V
U-M Campus, ca. 1929
81
1920-1929

Church of Christ, 1923

i
1
South University Avenue, from the East
82
1920-1929

21
1927 View of Barton Hills

Bird Hills from North Side of the Huron River, 1927
83
1920-1929

H
Ferry Field

THE SE TROT
1929
MICHIGAN 14
HARVARD 12
ONOV.9
1929
Michigan Stadium, November 9, 1929 (Harvard 12-Michigan 14)
84
1920-1929
TAX EXEMPT IN MICIICAN
$855,000.00
YPSI-ANN LAND COMPANY
XXX IRBOR, MICHIGAN
FIRST MORTGAGE 0% GOLD BONDS
Due February 1st, 1938
Dated February 1st, 1928
Denominations $1000.00 and $500.00
Interest payable February 1st and August ist, without deduction for Federal Income Tax not in excess of 2%
per annum. Coupon notes registered as to principal. Redeemable on any interest payment date, in whole
or in part, at $102.00 and interest. If less than the total bonds outstanding are to be redeemed, selection
is to be by lot, pro-rated in the discretion of the Trustee among the denominations, Principal and inter-
est payable at the Banking House of The Farmors & Mechanics Bank, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
APPRAISAL: The property pledged to secure these bonds has been appraised by competen:
real estate meni i S313,480.00). The total amount vi the l ond issue is only $8.50 000.
FRED T. STOWE, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Trustee
SECURITY: ils security ar ilere bonds, the Tru-te: lias taken uitle to real estate aggregating
280 lots in the submissions hown as College lleight Sumber One and College Heights Estaten,
located on lashtenas kvad, avijacent and contig uulli tv the city of lplanci, county of Washtenaw.
-tate of Michigan.
Of these lots 207 have been sold on coatract at sale prices amounting in $2.1.2010. The esti-
mated sales prices of the 7.3 unsuche lots amount 10 S: 4.21:00. Based on these prices, the total value
of the properties pileged is $313,420,00 or more than 3!: times the amount of this !atie'.
In aslition to taking title and establishing a first lies on the real estate pledgul, to further assure
payment of the bonds by providing funds willi which to pay them, the Trustee has required the
contracts covering the loves sold to be deposited with the Truter. The contracts already depositud,
which have an average of ?+1 of the selling prior pail in. have unpaid bilances twtalling $151.344.59.
011 ishich the monthly pay m.inits ha:e averaged over $1.200,00 for the past two years. The remain-
ing wusuld lots are now being offered for sale and is lots are soli, the contracts covering sam: are to
be deposited with the Trustee its in Nditional security on this bond issue. All collections on the con-
tracts are made by the Trustee, thereby assuring complete jurisiliction and control over the pleilge 1
property and the cash receipts ( rivalvle thereírom.
SINKING FUND: The Devaration of Trust provides that payment shall be made to the Sinking
lund on the 15th day of each and every month beginning Feliruary 15111, 1928. to be used to call or
purchase bonils at not to excecl102.00 and interest tip to and including January 15th, 1938, and in
aldition thereto, an amount in equal monthly installments, beginning as of February 15th, 1928, and
on the 15th day vi each and every month up to and including January 15th, 1938. "whicient to pay the
next maturing interest.
RESTRICTIONS FOR WITHDRAWING BALANCE OF COLLECTIONS: liter apply-
ing iunds to the uses and under the restrictions provided for in the Declaration of Trust, the balance of
collections may be withdrawn only at the sule discretion of the Trustee, and no withdrawals are to be
permitted unless the aggregate principal of contracts satisfactory to the Trustee, and cash on
hand shall lve at least twice the amount of the bonds then outstanding.
PURPOSE OF ISSUE: The proceeds of this bond is-ue are to be used for the retirement of
existing indehtelness, and to be used for other coriorate purposes.
THE YPSI-ANN LAND COMPANY, whose entire stock is hele by represcritative busines- men
of Inn Arbor, in addition to iheir holdings in several valuable subdivisions between Ann Arbor and
Ypsilanti, are the owners of valuable busine-s property in .lu .lrhor, among which is the seven-story
office building located at the corner of East Washington Street and fourth dyerve.
LEGALITY: Title to property and all legal proceedings connected with the issuance of the
londs, have been approved by Cavanaugh & Burke of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Trustee, and Bon-
isteel & Lane of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Company.
PRICE $100.00 and Accrued Interest
The statements contained herein are derived from sources regarded as reliable, They are not guaranteed,
but believed to be correct. All securities are offered subject to prior sale and change in price.
T. R. PEIRSOL & CO.,
PHONE :3413
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
200 E. HURON ST.
85
1920-1929

Ann Arbor
Homes
86
1920-1929

G
FILTRICI
In the Business Section
of Ann Arbor
CEC
87
1920-1929

CONOCO
GAS
MICHIGAMME OIL CO.
ISRIBERLING
MICHIGAMME OIL CO.
IES
>>o-
STRO
East Huron and Division,

GOODYEAR TIRES
CTA ERLER OIL COMPANY
다​.
88
1920-1929

7
LO
State Street, from the South

IK
89
1920-1929
“The James B. Angell
Automobile Tour”
One short block to the right, station of De-
troit Interurban Electrics for Detroit to the
East, Jackson and Kalamazoo to the West.
00.3
00.5
THE HOTEL WHITNEY, THE START-
ING POINT OF THE TOUR, IS LOCAT-
ED AT THE CORNER OF NORTH MAIN
AND WEST ANN STS.
This hotel is the headquarters of the Inn
Arbor Branch of the Detroit Iutomobile Club.
It faces the Washtenaw County Court House
with prominent tower and clock.
The second building from Main St, on the
left of E. Ann St. and opposite the Court Ilouse
is occupied by the Inn Arbor Times News, the
local daily crening newspaper, one of the
Scripps-Booth chain of newspapers.
.\t the next corner, 1:. .Inn St. and X. Fourth
lic is the Chamber of Commerce Inn. It
was formerly "Jo l'arkers", a cafe famous in
traditions of the l'niversity. Thousands of
Michigan men have sung:
"I want to go back to lichigan,
To dear Inn Trbor town;
Back to Jo's' and the Orient'
Back to all the money I spent".
llere now scenes of less festive enthusiasm are
staged by the Kiwanis Club which meets Mona
day noon, the Chamber which meets Tues
day noon, the Rotary Club which meets lle!
nesday noon, and various other organizations.
Information about the City cheerfully furn
ished. .Il motorbus lines for points outsiile
the City start from the Inn.
MILES FROM WHITNEY HOTEL, GO SOUTH
00.0 ON MAIN ST. FOR FOUR BLOCKS.
This route traverses part of the down-town
business section of the city. The “State
Street Section" is another business district
that has grown up adjacent to the Campus.
One block to luron St.. which divides the
City streets into North and South, as Jain
St. divides them into liast and West.
TURN LEFT ONTO E. WILLIAM ST.
FOR ONE BLOCK, THEN TURN LEFT
ONTO S. FOURTH AVE.
l'assing, on S. Fourth Ave., the Y. WC. 1.
and new Masonic Temple on right. The lat-
ter was dedicated in 1924, and cost $325,000.
STOP: TURN RIGHT ONTO HURON
STREET.
Allenel Hotel on left at turn.
One block east on right, City Hall: later on
right Presbyterian Church; later, Baptist
Church with Student Guild House across the
street.
On the left, "Grangers", a popular dancing
academy patronized by students.
At the corner of S. State St., Harris Hall,
a student headquarters for Episcopal students
next to "Grangers": Wesley Hall, stulent
headquarters for Methodist Students; l'nitar-
ian Church; and High School with Carnegie
l'ublic Library attached.
Extensive programs of activity for students
are carried on by the local Protestant and Ro-
man Catholic churches with financial aid from
the denominations outside Ann Arbor. More
than a half dozen university pastors and wo-
men secretaries are engaged in this work. The
total sum of money spent on the campus and
around the campus for religious ministrations
to the students exceeds $50.000 annually.
TURN RIGHT ONTO STATE ST.
Passing on right the Methodist Church and
I ane Hall, the headquarters of the Student
Christian Issociation.
Then follow the "State Street Section" of
business houses with Vickels Arcade on the
right, and on the left the main entrance to the
l'niversity; The l'niversity postal sub-sta-
tion is at the other end of Nickels.Ircade.
00.9
90
1930
1939
1930-1939
few businesses declared bankruptcy, most were
plagued by unpaid bills and increasing debts.
The building boom of the previous decade which
had created new University buildings, factories, stores,
and homes stopped short as Ann Arbor prepared to
wait out the financial slump. Home-building permits
declined from 260 in 1929 to an average of fewer than
50 during each of the next six years. Not only did
contractors, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and
suppliers suffer, but unemployed factory workers were
denied the temporary construction work which had
previously allowed them to survive periodic unem-
ployment
With continuing price declines, the surrounding farm
community was not a source of temporary employment
either. With its diversified production of grain, vegeta-
ble, dairy, and poultry products, Washtenaw County
suffered less than farm regions dependent on one crop.
But the number of farm mortgage foreclosures in-
creased steadily from 1930, and farm auctions became
more frequent
The rapid expansion of Ann Arbor and the University
was not immediately halted by the October 1929 stock
market crash. No banner headlines marked "black
Thursday.” Instead the Daily News stressed short rallies
rather than sharp declines in stock prices. In December
1929, when the unprecedented dimensions of the de-
pression were becoming apparent, Ann Arbor's Mayor
Edward Staebler assured local residents that the
economy was sound and would weather this temporary
financial crisis. Throughout the rest of the decade the
city leaders and the local press continued to express
confidence in the future of Ann Arbor. While this op-
timism masked many real economic reversals and per-
sonal hardships, it was indicative of the relative stability
of Ann Arbor's retail economy compared to the
economic and social plight of industrial cities like De-
troit.
As the employer of twenty per cent of Ann Arbor's
work force and the source of over 10,000 student and
faculty consumers, the University buffered to some ex-
tent the immediate effects of the depression. Until 1931
it operated on a budget appropriated in the spring of
1929, when prosperity seemed assured. The number of
students and tuition revenues did not seriously decline
until the 1931-32 academic year. However, the expan-
sion of the University's physical plant stopped abruptly
and in 1931 a ten per cent pay decrease went into effect
and enrollment declined ten per cent. University Presi-
dent A. G. Ruthven responded optimistically, “I am not
at all discouraged...I must admit that the curtailment of
our resources has permitted me to make certain
changes in the organization which I believe will be of
lasting benefit.”
Despite marked declines, most of its industrial, farm,
and retail establishment survived. Even during the na-
tional “bank holidays” Ann Arbor banks maintained
limited business hours. In the ensuing years the city's
relative stability attracted new residents and industries
fleeing the economic distress of Detroit. Thus Ann
Arbor's economic losses were balanced by modest
gains.
But Ann Arbor did not escape the depression. Com-
panies which supplied parts for the automotive indus-
try, such as American Broach, King Seeley, and Hoover
Ball & Bearing, accounted for a large per cent of the
industrial work force and were immediately forced to
reduce production and to lay off factory and office
workers. Several firms went into receivership and with-
drew from Ann Arbor. Others merged with out-of-state
companies hoping that additional resources would
allow them to survive, even if the patterns of employ-
ment shifted away from Ann Arbor. Retail establish-
ments, which accounted for a majority of the city's
income, suffered a fifty per cent drop in sales. Although

Farmers Getting Government Checks, May 1937
Unemployment—its increasing magnitude and
duration became Ann Arbor's most critical problem of
the depression. By 1931, ten per cent of the work force
was without a regular paycheck to pay the rent and buy
the family groceries. Without hope for a job in the
foreseeable future, these people were completely de-
pendent on their neighbors.
The tradition of community self-help was strong in
Ann Arbor. The Community Fund supported eleven
private welfare agencies and the city's Poor and
Cemetery Committee provided emergency aid to indi-
gents and transients. But as unemployment soared, the
usual means of support proved totally inadequate. With
the help of the Boy Scouts, the Community Fund re-
doubled its annual campaign appeals. Allocating most
of its resources to the Family Welfare Bureau, the
Community Fund focused on immediate relief prob-
lems by sponsoring clothing drives and soup kitchens.
Civic groups directed their charitable activities to the
relief problem and the League of St. Andrew Thrift
92
1930-1939
563
CHILDS ORIE
NEEDED
Thrift Shop, October 1938
1
1
Despite unemployment and the relief burden, most
Ann Arborites remained optimistic enough to vote for
President Hoover in the 1932 election. A Daily News
editorial commented that Hoover should not be blamed
for the depression and that the country's economy
would automatically recover regardless of the outcome
of the election. When the votes were counted, Wash-
tenaw County was one of the few areas in Michigan
which maintained its traditional Republicanism. Hoover
received 15,368 votes to 12,552 for Roosevelt. The city
and county offices were held by Republicans. Only the
second U. S. Congressional District, of which Wash-
tenaw County was a part, elected a New Deal Demo-
crat, John C. Lehr.
But the city could not provide relief and jobs indefi-
nitely. The number of families on relief jumped from
162 in 1931 to 405 in 1933. Monthly welfare costs
skyrocketed from $2,000 to $14,000 per month. In-
creased expenditures were juxtaposed against the city's
rapidly shrinking revenues. Despite several municipal
bond issues for the city's public works projects and
continued borrowing from the annual contingency
fund, the welfare fund was always low. Traditional fi-
nancial revenues had decreased by almost sixty per
cent, due to the rising rate of tax delinquency and
declining valuations of local property. Even special
emergency relief bonds amounting to $150,000 passed
in November 1932 were exhausted within six months.
On May 10, 1933, the Daily News headlined “City
Welfare Fund Emptied," and only cases of “dire neces-
sity” would receive aid. Fortunately, in the following
week implementation of state and federal welfare pro-
grams rescued Ann Arbor's welfare fund with Recon-
struction Finance Corporation loans of over $10,000
and established the pattern of state and federal cooper-
ation in local relief efforts. Longer than many other
cities, Ann Arbor had shouldered the burden of relief
and had reason to be proud of its community spirit and
welfare accomplishments. The confidence of city lead-
ers had been justified.
Of the many state and federal aid programs during
the remainder of the decade, the Public Works Ad-
ministration had the greatest impact on Ann Arbor.
Continuing the pattern of municipal work relief, PWA
funds allowed the city to undertake far-reaching public
improvements such as the sewage treatment plant, the
water softening plant, and miles of connecting sewers
and drains. A brick terminal containing office space was
added to the airport and Ann Arbor High School was
expanded. City council proceedings were indexed and
the city hall and several school buildings were deco-
rated with murals.
The most popular contribution, however, was the
improvement of parks in the city and of those along the
Huron River. A resurfaced Huron River Drive led

Shop expanded its operations. Spontaneous events like
a community dance and the post-season Michigan
Chicago football game in 1930, as well as regular events
like the Police and Fireman's Ball, added funds to the
community welfare effort.
Despite widespread cooperation, these efforts were
not sufficient. The bulk of the relief burden fell to the
city. The immediate tasks of a hurriedly expanded Un-
a
employment Committee were to allocate funds for
emergency relief, register job seekers, and locate work.
As available jobs in business and industry disappeared,
a door to door canvass sought odd jobs, and the city
hired increasing numbers to cut wood and to sell sand-
bags and onions. By 1931 all unemployed job hunters
reported directly to the Parks Department and the
Board of Public Works.
From the beginning Ann Arbor advocated municipal
work relief as an antidote to unemployment. According
to Mayor H. Wirt Newkirk: “The men don't want char-
ity, they want work." For thirty cents an hour, often paid
in scrip, these men pulled weeds, built stone fences, and
planted grass, trees, and flowers along roadways and
the Huron River. New baseball diamonds, swings,
slides, and picnic tables were added to city parks and
playgrounds. An eighteen-hole municipal golf course
was improved. Potatoes, cabbage, and onions were
harvested from forty acres of city gardens. The unem-
ployed contributed to the construction of additional
sanitary and storm sewers, sidewalks, and curbs and in
1932 to the addition to the post office.
In addition to providing jobs, the city distributed relief
funds for food, clothing, and rent. By 1931 a full-time
volunteer was directing the welfare funds and a city
store was opened to provide food and clothing at the
lowest possible prices. The city also operated a dormi-
tory and a restaurant to provide temporary help for
indigents. An investigator was hired to check all claims
for aid.
1
93
1930-1939
P.W.A.
FEDERAL PUBLIC WORKS
ADMINISTRATION PROJECT
Construction, Ann Arbor High School Addition, March 1939
motorists to new picnic tables, swings, baseball
diamonds, and grassy clearings that had been added to
the parks between Dexter and Ypsilanti. When dam
repairs lowered the water level, the Municipal Beach
was cleared for safer swimming; a rock island, a new
dock, and an expanded parking lot were also added.
In other federal programs, the National Youth Ad-
ministration supported young people who worked in
the University museums and libraries cataloging insect
collections or describing historical manuscripts. Five
nursery schools were maintained with federal assis-
tance. Moreover, WPA artists contributed two black
pumas to the University's Museum.
Recreation was another form of relief. In Ann Arbor
there were many opportunities for escaping the daily
routine of working or looking for work. Athletic teams
attracted loyal crowds and encouraged fierce rivalries.
The University football team led by Coach Harry Kipke
and Athletic Director Fielding Yost accumulated four
Big Ten and two national championships between
1929 and 1933. Every football Saturday, out-of-town
supporters flocked through Ann Arbor's streets, stores,
and restaurants before and after the games. The three
high schools also boasted of winning teams: Ann Arbor
High School in track, University High School in basket-
ball, and St. Thomas High School in football. In addi-
tion, local business and civic groups sponsored team
competition in baseball, basketball, golf, bowling, and
hockey. One's dinner might be meatless or the
paycheck might be late, but if “the team” won, few
cared.
In Ann Arbor sports careers started early. From
choosing up sides in neighborhood baseball games to
learning new skills in the city recreation program,
youths of all ages practiced and dreamed of becoming
the Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth of the next generation. For
young Barney Oldfields, the annual soap box derby
down Broadway Hill culminated months of exacting
preparations.
Refurbished by continual work-relief projects, the
parks in the city and along the Huron River became
centers of recreation and leisure. Skating and toboggan-
ing were popular in the winter; swimming at the Munici-
pal Beach and canoeing over the Delhi rapids were
favorite summer diversions. Fishermen whiled away the
long depression days along the river banks and filled the
evenings with fish stories. Annual picnics of business or
civic groups featured three-legged races, shoe kicking
competition, and "human pump" contests. Music lov-
ers applauded the Ann Arbor Civic Orchestra and local
bands during summer concerts in the Orchestra Shell, a
WPA project in West Park.
During the unprecedented heat waves of the 1930's,
which ruined farming throughout the midwest and re-
sulted in mounting death tolls, Ann Arbor residents
found ways to beat high temperatures. Family picnics
freed mother from the stove and transformed leftovers
into a celebration. Ice cream was a special treat whether
eaten at the neighborhood Millers or delivered by Wurs-
ters. Adults envied the children who cooled off in wash
tubs filled by using the garden hose.
The summer scorchers were equalled only by the
winter blizzards. Snow drifts blocked country roads and
city traffic was stilled. More mobile than cars, horse-
drawn plows continued to clear the sidewalks through-
out most of the decade. University students sculptured
gigantic snow figures along fraternity row.
Ann Arbor's traditional cultural and entertainment
activities provided relief from the depression. Movie
houses showed Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Tyrone
Power, and Mary Astor. The Saturday morning
“Wheaties” program attracted crowds of children to
watch cartoons and the latest westerns and comedies.
Theater goers could choose among traditional plays at
the Ann Arbor Civic Theater, the modern playwrights
produced by the University's theater groups, or the
revivals of eighteenth-century classics by the amateur


Michigan-Ohio State, November 20, 1937
94
1930-1939
products. The most significant industrial newcomer, the
International Radio Corporation, came to Ann Arbor in
1931 and employed 150 men. Not only did it produce
the popular and economical radio “Kadette Jewel,"
and the Argus camera, but also by merging its radio and
photographic interests it began experimenting with a
new phenomenon called television.
Prosperity slowly returned to the retail business. After
1935 dozens of new businesses appeared in the city
directory and the number of retail employees increased
from 1,932 in 1929 to 2,841 in 1940. According to a
1936 survey the amount of retail sales per capita in
Washtenaw County was $599.00—the highest in the
State of Michigan. Main Street and State Street shop-
ping areas and the newly located Farmers' Market sup-
plied a full range of food, clothing, and appliances.
Increased farm purchasing power, augmented by gov-
ernment checks, and the renewed influx of University
students in 1935 combined with the optimistic outlook
of local industry to make Ann Arbor the retail center for
a growing town and its surrounding countryside.
The construction of new buildings not only resulted
from the increasing prosperity but also added to it.
Between 1930 and 1936, assets of the University's
physical plant increased to $7 million in valuation.
Noteworthy among new buildings made possible by
generous gifts were Hutchins Hall, the Rackham Build-
ing, and Burton Memorial Tower. The pre-1930's
commitment to provide dormitories was fulfilled with
the help of federal funds in the construction of West
Quadrangle, East Quadrangle, and Stockwell Hall. Al-
though the town was growing moderately, the popula-
tion of school-age children mushroomed. Crowded
classrooms prompted the construction of Stone
Elementary School and Slauson Junior High School. In
addition to business and industrial building the number

1
!
1
Nell Gwyn group. Musicals were performed by the
Union Opera, by neighborhood groups, and by high
school students. The world's best musical artists came
to Ann Arbor during the Choral Union series and the
May Festival. In almost every home, radios provided
up-to-date national and world news reports as well as
programs from the University featuring music classes
and extension courses.
By the middle of the decade the signs of recovery
were increasing in Ann Arbor; Thanksgiving turkeys
returned to many dinner tables. While unemployment
and the need for relief continued (and even increased
during the recession in 1937-38), the amount of per-
manent unemployment was decreasing. In November
1937 a special federal census revealed that unemploy-
ment in Washtenaw County had declined considerably
from the twenty per cent level of the worst years of the
depression.
A slow but steady recovery was indicated in the
expansion of existing industries and by the entrance of
new companies. King-Seeley, Ann Arbor's largest in-
dustrial employer, built three additions to its factory
after 1935, and quadrupled its employment from 200 in
1930 to 800 in 1936. The American Broach and
Machine Company, expanding its plant in 1935 and
again in 1936, employed 140 men who produced metal
parts destined for Europe and Russia.
With the repeal of prohibition in 1932, the city's beer
industry revived. The Ann Arbor Beer Company re-
placed the pre-prohibition Michigan Union Beverage
Company as the German brewing art flourished once
again. To bring power tools, such as saws and drills,
within the reach of average householders, Double A
Products Company was organized in Ann Arbor in
1934. In the following years they marketed a line of 200

95
1930-1939
1939 the streetcar tracks were removed from Main
Street.
In addition to having an expanding economy and
progressive civic improvements, Ann Arbor remained a
safe place to live. Citizens were relatively secure from
fire, crime, and traffic accidents. In two squad cars
equipped with two-way radios, the thirty-one-man
police force protected homes and businesses and pat-
rolled the street traffic. By 1936 traffic regulations alone
filled an eighty-six page book. Ten dollar fines for 25
m.p.h. speeding on Washtenaw contributed to the un-
usually low level of traffic deaths—under five per year.
For its size and number of automobiles, Ann Arbor was
cited as one of the safest cities in the country.
The residential areas surrounding the city were tree-
lined and generally quiet. Home owners of bungalows
and mansions participated with equal enthusiasm in the
“More Attractive Ann Arbor” campaign sponsored by
the Ann Arbor Garden Club and the Ann Arbor News.
The increased attention to trees and shrubbery was
occasioned by the University's centennial celebrations,
which in the summer of 1937 brought thousands of
guests from all forty-eight states to the city.
Traditionally a source of civic pride, Ann Arbor's
school system not only educated over 5,000 students in
well-equipped buildings by professional teachers, but
offered a broad range of educational opportunities to
the public. Adult evening classes at Ann Arbor High
School included typing, sewing, and cooking classes.

1

Burton Tower Construction
of permits for housing steadily increased. New homes
were ringing the city, which measured almost six miles
square.
A final indication of increased economic prosperity
was the rapid decline in delinquent taxes and the pay-
ment of back taxes. Encouraged by strict local ordi-
nances and police cooperation as well as state deadlines
for payment without added interest, Washtenaw
County taxpayers paid up thousands of dollars of back
taxes. In 1936, ninety-five per cent of Ann Arbor's
current property taxes had been collected.
With fuller coffers, the city continued its efforts to
modernize every corner of Ann Arbor. In addition to the
airport, sewage treatment plant, and water softening
plant, the city constructed gas pipelines in preparation
for conversion to natural gas in 1939. Seven hydro-
electric plants provided electricity for 8,000 Ann Arbor
buildings and ninety per cent of the neighboring farms.
Sanitary and storm sewers, bituminous and concrete
paving, and sidewalks and curbs extended into outlying
residential areas. Dirt roads vulnerable to rain washouts
and susceptible to deep ruts were fast disappearing. In
KEEP
ARKINGMETERS
OUT
I will not trade
at any store
that has a meter
in front
JOIN US
96
1930-1939
International crises also appeared in the headlines.
Fighting in Spain and China and the growing power of
Hitler and Mussolini threatened American isolation.
Debates over neutrality, preparedness, and munitions
makers' profits rang out from the Michigan Daily. The
rest of the town, however, noted each new develop-
ment and hoped that the country could avoid the hor-
rors of war without sacrificing the ideals of democracy.
More than ever, at the end of the decade the town's
future was inextricably linked to the fate of the nation.
With airplanes landing near State Street, with the new
streamlined Mercury train whizzing between Detroit
and Chicago in four hours, and with two-lane highways
penetrating the city, Ann Arbor could not escape being
involved in World War II to a greater extent than it had
been affected by the Great Depression.
The Public Library run by the board of education
served an active clientele of over 10,000 borrowers.
Representing a broad spectrum of religious practice,
twenty-five churches conducted worship services, pro-
vided fellowship, and promoted charitable causes. With
the exception of the new Presbyterian Church on
Washtenaw, there was little church construction during
the 1930's; but church activities retained their tradition-
ally important place in Ann Arbor. Local civic and fra-
ternal clubs also contributed to the well being of Ann
Arbor. Sponsoring lectures, study groups, and benefits,
the Kiwanians, Rotarians, Masons, Elks, and others
maintained active memberships. Particularly during the
holidays these groups organized benefits and parties for
the handicapped or needy children.
Local politics were spirited but rarely bitterly partisan,
as Republicans continued to hold city offices. The active
participation of the Ann Arbor Citizens Council in local
issues furthered the city's tradition of responsible gov-
ernment. In general the council's deliberate actions on
city ordinances and appropriations provoked little con-
troversy. The institution of parking meters in 1937 was
an exception, however,
No one denied that lack of parking forced motorists
to circle the block endlessly and reduced business. But
opponents argued that the meters could not create
additional parking space. Despite vigorous opposition
and Mayor Walter C. Sadler's veto, the city council
authorized the seemingly exorbitant sum of $15,000 to
purchase Ann Arbor's first parking meters. By the end
of the decade, their existence was accepted, and the
revenues from the meters were used to improve off-
street parking for business employees.
During the last three years of the decade Ann Arbor's
attention was increasingly drawn beyond local issues. In
January 1937 its National Guard unit boarded the train
to assist in the unprecedented Flint sit-down strike. With
the peaceful settlement of that strike, new hope fueled
labor union activity. Although an ensuing wave of sit-
down strikes exasperated communities across the na-
tion, labor unions, aided by the Wagner Labor Act,
gained a new place in American industry.
Ann Arbor participated in this trend on August 3,
1937, when two-thirds of the 300 workers at the Ameri-
can Broach Company sat down inside the plant. The
persuasive intervention of Mayor Sadler, together with
an injunction in the hands of Sheriff Jacob B. Andre,
removed the strikers to the street. There they main-
tained a picket until, on the third day, County Pro-
secutor Albert J. Rapp (wearing a white straw hat)
notified the strikers that negotiations between the com-
pany and the UAW in Governor Frank Murphy's office
had reached an agreement. The strikers moved to a
nearby church and peacefully accepted the company's
promise to initiate collective bargaining.

National Guard Mobilization for the Flint Strike, January 1937

American Broach Sitdown Strike, August 1937
97
1930-1939

HARIHANN F.W.
LUGGAGE WILKINSON CASES
Fer PURITY
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Main Street, from the South, 1939

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98
1930-1939

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Liberty and Maynard, August 1935

99
1930-1939

THE
QUARRY
OKSHOP
S.STATE
318
GROCERIES
KIS
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PRESCRIPTION DEPT
IS WORKING
1
South State Street
100
1930-1939
1

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Street Repair at Huron and Division, February 1938
BEER
narbor
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Ann Arbor Brewery, August 1936
101
1930-1939

Kiwanis Picnic, July 1937

Camp Tacoma
102
1930-1939

NO
ICE
CREAM
MILLERS
DAIRY
PRODUCTS
Coca Cola
MALTED MILKS SODA-
UNDAES SANDWICHES
SELETE

Sewing Class, 1938
103
1930-1939

Counting Ballots,
104
1930-1939
11

Boy Scouts Delivering Community Fund Ballots, 1938

School Board Election
105
1930-1939
MICHIGAN

WHITE BANNERS
HOU
PHA
WHITE BANNERS CLAUDE RAINS FAY BAINTER
JACKIE COOPER SPORTLIGHT CARTOON NEWS
CLAUDE RAINS
WHITE
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Wheaties Children's Program, 1938

Farmers Market, July 1937
106
1930-1939

WE
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Red Cross Lifesaving Class, May 1938
107
1930-1939

Soapbox Derby, 1936

NEW YORK
ENTRAL
SYSTEM
108
1930-1939

DE

ANN ARBOR AIR SERVICE
FLIGHT INSTRUCTION
ANN ARBOR MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
Woman Pilot, Ann Arbor Airport, 1935
109
1930-1939

Farm Auction, April 1937

61
CURT
with a mass
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OR
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Builder's Show
110
1930-1939

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Blizzard of 1938-39

IN
111
1930-1939
50%
40%

20%
0
UMMUNITY
FUND
112
TL61
061

1940-1974
Ration Guide
The Second World War ended Ann Arbor's exis-
tence as a quiet college town. By 1940 Ann Arbor had a
population of 30,000 and contained a University of
12,000 students, the great majority of whom were en-
rolled in the traditional humanities and arts. Even so,
potential for change in the University's orientation from
an undergraduate institution to a training center for
twentieth-century experts in the hard sciences was
being tentatively explored. The war would make de-
mands on the city's industries that would eventually
make Ann Arbor a center of space-age technology.
Initially, a few vestiges of the old remained. There
were no traffic fatalities in the city during 1939 and the
municipal parking lots provided the following year were
among the first in Michigan outside Detroit. In addition
to a small, but vigorous, parochial school system, Tap-
pan and Slauson Junior High Schools graduated bet-
ween eighty and ninety students each into the city's one
high school at State and Huron streets adjacent to the
University campus.
Ann Arbor was still a place where these youngsters
might, during the summer months, string up an old tire
over the Huron River. Yet that same beguiling sunshine
contained a quiet terror. The winter March of Dimes
campaign provided care for those sure to contract infan-
tile paralysis when the warm weather came. Every
summer between 1940 and 1955, the Ann Arbor News
daily carried a doleful litany of those stricken.
Movie theaters in the campus area provided enter-
tainment for the college students as well as the younger
Ann Arbor residents. But there was little to alarm the
conscientious parent in “Sewanee River" with Don
Ameche and Al Jolson, or “Typhoon” (“a tornado of
tropic romance'') with Dorothy Lamour. A major social
event of the year was the annual flower show held in
Yost Field House every June. Great rows of windows let
filtered sunshine in on a thousand varieties of garden
and tropical flowers.
This summer, however, was different. By May, news
of the German offensive into Belgium occupied an
unusually prominent place on page one. Everyone
knew what University President Alexander G. Ruthven
meant when in accepting the gift of a solar telescope to
the University he deplored the use of science to support
warfare. The undertow began even before the United
States entered the war in December 1941. Local doc-
tors were called into the Red Cross. Rumors of fifth
column activity right here in Ann Arbor appeared. Soon
after Pearl Harbor casualty lists and Ration Guides were
a permanent feature of the newspaper.
The war blunted the edges of life in Ann Arbor. Bright
moments were all too few. Some of the best, however,
were provided by Tom Harmon. “Old 98” gave
everyone something to cheer about on Saturday after-
noon. But during the week spectators became produc-
MeatCheese,
Cheese, Butter, Cdible
Foto, Canned Fish: Red coupons
P, Q and 2 in Ration Book No. 2
valid through July 31.
Processed Fruits and Vegetables:
Blue stamps N, P and Q in Ration
Book No. 2 valid throug
through Aug, 7.
Sugar: Stamp 13 in Ration Book
No. 1 good for five pounds through
Aug. 15, stamps 15 and 16 also
good for five pounds, if needed for
home canning.
Colleo: Stamp 21 in Ration Book
No. 1 good for one pound through
July 21; stamp 22 good for one
pound July 22-Aug. 11.
Shoos: Stamp 18 in Ration Book
No. 1 good for one pair through
Oct. 31.
Gasoline: Number six A coupons
valid for four gallons each through
July 21. Applications for new A
and motorcycle booka, now avail-
able at rntion board offices and
gasoline slations, to be filled out
and returned promptly to ration
boards.
Tiro Inspection: A book venia
cles by Sept. 30; B's by June 30: ;
C's by Aug. 31; commercial vehi.
cles every
six months or 5,000
miles, whi:hever is first.
Fuel Oil: Period 5 coupons worth
11 and 110 gallons each valid un-
til end of season, Sept. 30. Periud
I coupons for next season also now
va.id for 20 and 100 gallons per
unit. Next year's application
blanks, sert out by mail, should be
returned promptly to enable users
to fill tanks.
Ration Board Telephonos: Gasol
114
1940-1974
ers for the war effort. King-Seeley, Economy Baler,
Precision Parts, Fram Corporation, and Argus turned
out the city's contribution. Everyone did what he could.
The local Boy Scouts ran a paper collection drive. Each
scout or cub who personally collected over 1,000
pounds received a ribbon decoration with an attached
Eisenhower medal, inscribed "for extraordinary patri-
otic achievement." Despite massive citizen participation
in the war effort, need for labor remained high. By 1945
the classified section of the News carried an unprece-
dented four and one-half columns of help wanted ads.
Curiously enough, the wonder drug penicillin became
available locally in 1945, while at the same time tobacco
users had to wait an hour in line at Cunningham Drugs
to buy a pack of cigarettes.
The war slowed and obscured Ann Arbor's growth.
But change did take place. Three events foreshadowed
the immediate future. On March 9, 1945, the ribbon
cutting ceremony was held for the newly completed
multi-lane industrial highway from Michigan and
Wyoming avenues in Detroit to the Willow Run bomber
plant. Charles Ziegler, state highway commissioner,
predicted that someday high-speed expressways would
link the heart of Detroit with both the Thumb area and
cities west of Wayne County. A month later, a city
committee, anticipating the charter revision of 1956
which gave Ann Arbor a professional city manager,
recommended that a finance director be appointed to
attend full-time to the city's burgeoning accounting and
budget needs. On August 21 Mayor William E. Brown
authorized the use of parking meters in city parking lots.
In the halcyon days of mid-August 1945, these con-
siderations were momentarily forgotton. The war was
over; crowds danced in the streets. The Ann Arbor
News headline for August 13 said it all: “Printing of
Ration Books Halted." The war was already becoming
legend. The State Theater offered John Wayne in
“Back to Bataan.'
That fall everyone's attention turned to the antici-
pated expansion of the city's population. The mayor
predicted a housing shortage unless the city limits were
increased, and to make annexations easier supported
an amendment to the water and sewage ordinances. A
year later he became a successful prophet. The Univer-
sity of Michigan in 1945 had 11,800 students; the
number enrolled the following academic year was
19,000.
The late 1940's and early 1950's brought a postwar
boom and inflation to Ann Arbor. In fiscal 1949-50, the
city had nearly $2 million in city improvement projects
under contract, more than triple the amount of the
previous year. On the University campus an eight-story
dormitory—“South Quad”—was going up. It was to be
the tallest “skyscraper” in the University area. In the
spring of 1950 a record city budget was passed even
though under its provisions all departments received
less than they asked for.
Prosperity was a mixed blessing. As the city grew in
size, it also grew more diverse. Diversity brought differ-
ences of opinion on the policies the city ought to adopt
to insure the best possible life for its residents. Fast
disappearing was the tradition of long, unbroken terms
for city councilmen and members of the school board.
The most serious dispute at this time occurred be-
tween Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor over the location of the
proposed new courthouse. The bond issue to finance
and build it in Ann Arbor was defeated through the
determined efforts of an Ypsilanti group which, under-
standably enough, wanted the courthouse located
nearer their city. As a result construction was delayed
until 1954 when the building was finally placed at
Huron and Main streets in Ann Arbor.
Before television began keeping people in their living
rooms, a few old-fashioned pleasures flourished a bit
longer. Big time "fast-pitch” softball hit town and
Veterans Park often saw crowds of 5,000 for twilight
and weekend games. In 1950 Ann Arbor entrant
Gerald Long placed sixth nationally in the Soap Box
Derby, the best ever for the city. The Farmers Market,
long since moved from its original location when the old
courthouse curb could no longer contain all the farmers
and their wares, flourished and reminded everyone of
the city's original intimate association with the land. And
circuses still came to town, and local boys still helped to
set them up.
At mid-century the University, long a nationally
known institution, had increased its training facilities in
engineering and the hard sciences. Its personnel
brought attention to bear on national issues. During the
Senator Joseph McCarthy investigation, History Pro-
fessor Preston Slosson confronted Herbert J. Philipps, a
communist who had been dismissed from his position
as professor of philosophy at the University of Washing-
ton. They debated the merits of capitalism versus com-
munism in a South State Street cafeteria. Two thousand
people showed up for the 200 available seats.
More important, for the first time in its 130-year
history Ann Arbor began to acquire a significant indus-
trial base by the late 1950's. Much of the development
was related to the great expansion of engineering and
technological activities of the University, begun during
the war and continued in the Cold War era. Research-
oriented industry began to move into the city. In 1958
Parke Davis built a huge laboratory on the north edge of
town and was soon followed by the Bendix Corpora-
tion, Conductron, Federal-Mogul, and Climax Molyb-
denum, among others. A research park on the south
side of the city was inaugurated in 1963. In a catch
phrase coined by the Ann Arbor Chamber of Com-
115
1940-1974
A
a
Welcome to
Ann Arbor
research center of the midwest
University of Michigan - Chamber of Commerce
eighty to ninety per cent effective in preventing the
disease. The news made headlines and pictures on front
pages all over the world.
The basic research had been carried out by Dr. Jonas
Salk at Pittsburgh. Salk had been a student of Francis at
The University of Michigan several years before. The
National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis had sup-
ported the work for several years beginning in the late
1940's. All their efforts culminated in the year-long field
testing program. Between April 26 and June 15, 1952,
over 1,080,000 children received shots, one-third of
them injected with a placebo. Throughout the summer
records ere kept on the characteristics of those strick-
en and the results tabulated and made public for the first
time only as Dr. Francis spoke.
Prior to that year polio had struck up to 40,000
people each year, most of them children. Within the
next seven years the disease was all but eradicated. In
1954 there were 24.8 cases per 100,000 population.
By 1961 the incidence was down to 0.7 cases per
100,000.
The 1960's in Ann Arbor opened on a bizarre note.
In September 1959 Chheng Guan Lim, a University
engineering student from Singapore, was discovered
hiding in the loft of the Methodist Church at the corner
of State and Huron streets. The live-in caretakers, dis-
turbed by footsteps in the night and plagued by church
groups' complaints of stolen food, had asked police aid.
Once captured, Lim left a national audience dumb-
founded by his tale. Humiliated by failing grades in
November 1955, he destroyed all his personal identifi-
cation papers and retreated to an uninsulated crawl-
space beneath the church roof. For the next forty-six
months, he had left his refuge only at night to forage for
food.
As Lim emerged, the 1960's, characterized by ex-
tremes of experience, burst upon the city. Years of

merce, the city was well on its way to becoming the
"Research Center of the Midwest.
The decade of the 1950's saw the development of a
vigorous two-party political system in Ann Arbor. Since
the war the electorate had usually voted in excess of
sixty per cent Republican. In 1953 the Republicans took
all fifteen of the city's precincts. Two years later the
Democrats took five of the fifteen and captured forty-six
per cent of the total vote. Then in 1957 for the first time
in twenty-six years, the Democrats took the mayoralty
and cut the Republican council majority from 8-3 to
6-5. The 1959 city election saw the Republicans recap-
ture the mayor's post and regain their 8-3 council
superiority. This seesaw pattern continued with the
Democrats slowly acquiring a higher and higher per-
centage of the vote. In 1969 they captured the mayor's
position and a council majority and in 1971 re-elected
the mayor. The advent of student voting and the estab-
lishment in 1970 of a radical third party, the Human
Rights Party, modified this pattern and left the city with a
plurality government.
The '50's were most notable, however, for stilling the
summer threnody sustained in newspaper reports of
successive victims of infantile paralysis. On Monday,
April 12, 1955, at 10:20 a.m., everything in Ann Arbor
came to a standstill. Sixth graders at Angell Elementary
School, knowing only that something big was happen-
ing, sat in uncomprehending silence as a medical report
was piped over the PA into their room. Dr. Thomas
Francis, Jr., professor of epidemiology at the University
of Michigan School of Public Health, had directed the
field testing program for the Salk polio vaccine. As the
world listened, he gave an immensely detailed account
of its results. His message was clear: the vaccine was

Walking Papers
历
​PLX
1
SALK TEST
PROVEN
SUCCESS
BE
licht
POLJO
116
1940-1974
The Alumni Association
of
The University of Michigan
(harter Number
1
Rando
Nwanken
a
This is toceruly that
The I'niversity of Michigan (lubol
The Moon
is a duly constituted unit of the Alumni Association and
entitled to all the rights and privileges under the Association's Constitution
conscientious civic effort were rewarded when in 1967
Ann Arbor was named an All-American City for the
quality of its life and the efforts of its inhabitants to
improve that quality. Very nearly at the same time, the
city was engulfed by macabre national publicity sur-
rounding the hunt and trial of murderer John Norman
Collins.
Long years of behind-the-scenes research and de-
velopment were rewarded as Ann Arbor people and
companies received praise and publicity for their con-
tributions to America's space program. Several of the
astronauts received training at The University of
Michigan. Included were Gemini astronauts James
McDivitt and Edward White for whom the corner of East
and South University streets was named. White was
later killed in a training accident. Apollo 15 astronauts
James B. Irwin, David R. Scott, and Alfred M. Worden
left a University of Michigan Alumni Chapter of the
Moon charter on the moon. During the summer and fall
of 1973, Ann Arbor High and University of Michigan
graduate Jack Lousma spent nearly two months aboard
the U. S. space laboratory "Skylab," and set a space-
walking record.
Fulfilling Charles Ziegler's prediction, Ann Arbor was
now completely “belted” by freeways, east, north-
west, and south, and increasingly associated with the
southeastern Michigan megalopolis. At the same time
internal city life became more fractured. Presenting city
government with an unusual threat to its authority,
neighborhoods organized as pressure groups to protect
their interests against what they saw as an indifferent
municipal bureaucracy.
Parallel to national trends, the Black community of
Ann Arbor began to raise a concerted voice for a greater
share of the opportunities of life in the city. In an un-
usual move, the Black Economic Development League
received “reparations from all the city's churches. The
funds have been used in a variety of ways to benefit
local Black citizens. One of the most recent innovations
has been the awarding of scholarships to Black young-
sters to attend Washtenaw Community College. Other
prominent Black residents have committed a great
amount of time and energy to the city's housing com-
mission, charged with insuring the less affluent citizens
of Ann Arbor suitable living quarters.
Too often in the '60's what began as deep, rational
commitment was overtaken by mass frivolity. On March
24, 1965, as public frustration over the Vietnam War
increased, the nation's first “teach-in” was organized at
The University of Michigan. Utilizing films, discussion
groups, and speakers, many sessions lasted all night in
an effort to develop a coherent anti-war position. Later
mass rallies and their support of “trashing” or the dig-
ging of “bomb craters" to rock music were sad declen-
sions from the original. Serious attempts at creating

a
President or the buty President, Alytninyssn.
Michen Radodh
Jack H.
Vice President, nis. Relations Pay President, Ilumni Assn.
Robe
Robert B. Olsen
Executive Director, Alumni Assn. Shayyian lubsuncil
Wiriskant
Director of Fickd Activities Has Chairman, Cubsound
ale
HE RULES
Predamenti
Ann Arbor Astronaut Jack Lousma Takes a Space Walk, 1973
117
1940-1974
“alternate life styles” were deflected by the publicity
given hair length and increasingly bizarre tastes in cloth-
ing. Organized religions experienced sincere pietistic
movements, such as the Word of God community in
Ann Arbor. Many other seekers found solace in com-
plete submersion into exotic Eastern religions.
There was a pervasive sense in the 1960's of con-
stant remodeling and fabrication. The football team
began wearing rubber cleats to play on plastic grass in
old Michigan Stadium, and the trackmen ran on rub-
berized asphalt at Ferry Field. The railroad station, no
longer really functional, was turned into a seafood res-
taurant where a discarded and refurbished baggage
wagon served as a stationary salad bar. Good humored
guests soon adopted the tradition of applauding the
occasional train that came through or, more rarely,
stopped. Ann Arbor compensated for the permanent
loss of its rural heritage by recreating natural beauty
within sculptured recreation areas. The city began to
purchase properties along the Huron River in 1965. By
1973 park land, created by new dams and joined by
bike paths, stretched almost unbroken along the river
from the old canoe livery on the north to the new Huron
Parkway Bridge on the east.
Despite the uproar of the 1960's, underneath it all
was a steady serious beat. Ann Arbor was a nationally
important center of learning and opinion. Adlai Steven-
son spoke from the steps of the Michigan Union in
1952. In 1960 two presidential candidates, both of
whom eventually became presidents, visited Ann
Arbor. Senator John F. Kennedy, hoping to harness the
latent idealism he sensed in his youthful supporters,
announced at the Michigan Union at 2:00 a.m., Oc-
tober 14, that if elected he would create a "Peace
Corps” and send volunteer workers around the globe.
A week later, Richard Nixon stopped his campaign train
at the Michigan Central Depot and a crowd of 15,000
gave him a warm welcome. Four years later, on a hot
May graduation day, President Lyndon Johnson spoke
to a crowd of 80,000 in the Michigan Stadium. In
perhaps the most important policy speech he ever
made, the President unveiled to the graduates and a
world-wide audience his plan for the “Great Society.
He expressed his hope that a growing impulse for social
change and greater equality of opportunity for all might
fulfill the age-old promise of America.
All in all, the city responded well to the increased
tensions of the '60's. Between 1940 and 1950, Ann
Arbor's population increased from 30,000 to 48,000
without too much strain. Between 1950 and 1960
another 19,000 people were added to the city. Stress
became evident through the 1960's as the population
grew toward the 100,000 mark. By 1965 the University
was enrolling 30,000 students. In 1970 the city had two
high schools, each enrolling more than 2,000 students
and participating in an intense sports rivalry.
Building furiously, Ann Arbor had acquired its first
shopping center by 1965 and 9,000 apartment units at
the same time. The spring of that year, high-rise con-
struction totalled $21 million and forever changed the
city's skyline. Although Ann Arbor was still a town of
trees—and enormously proud of the flowering crabs on
Awixa—a number of eighteen- to twenty-story build-
ings poked through the foliage. University Towers,
Riverside Park Apartments, and the University's
Physics and Astronomy Building joined venerable Bur-
ton Memorial Tower. Traffic became an even greater
problem and the parking structure a common sight.
With the return of Rose Bowl football teams at the turn
of the decade, fall Saturdays became even more hectic.
A massive regional shopping center, Briarwood, was
under construction on the south-west side when this
book went into press.
As the city neared its 150th anniversary, it turned its
attention to its historic landscape and moved to pre-
serve some of its visual heritage. The Ann Arbor pro-
gram of preservation is commendable for its twin em-
phasis on those few aesthetically superior homes of the
wealthy as well as the more numerous and modest
homes of the working middle classes. In 1971 the Ann
Arbor Historical Commission proposed and saw
adopted a municipal preservation ordinance. Two
years later the ordinance was used for the first time to
create a historic neighborhood at Division and Ann
streets encompassing four lovely old homes and Ann
Arbor's oldest standing church. Previously the commis-
sion had purchased and restored the Bennett-Kempf
House, a few hundred yards to the south, and made it a
living museum of early city history.
The Old West Side Association, encouraged by a
local architectural firm specializing in historical restora-
tion, convinced the National Register of Historic Places
for the first time that an area, rather than a single struc-
ture, could also qualify as a historic trust. The Old West
Side is composed of modest late nineteenth and early
twentieth century homes in which primarily German
working class residents of Ann Arbor lived. The Old
West Side has had the beneficial side effect of spawning
a host of small shops and businesses in adjacent areas.
Around the nearby Farmers' Market are the beginnings
of an “Old Town,” in conception and direction much
like similar areas in Chicago, Cincinnati, and other
major cities.
The landmarks of the 1820's and '30's in Ann Arbor
are gone, without trace or photograph. Elisha Rumsey's
"good framed house," the first such in the village, has
long since disappeared from the corner of Huron and
First streets. The county courthouse—surrounded by
traffic-stands where John Allen once grew vegetables.
118
1940-1974
Yet, the city's long-standing commitment to open park-
land and the protection of its trees, coupled with the
recent interest in historical restoration will, as the stately
homes pictured in the last of these pages demonstrate,
allow Ann Arbor to age gracefully.
Epilogue
All this is not to deny actual and potential conflict
within Ann Arbor. Scarcely disguised ethnic animosities
were all too prevalent during the First World War.
Moreover, since 1940 it has been less common to speak
of the community of Ann Arbor than it has to refer to the
communities which make up Ann Arbor. Today, we
have the Black community and the University commun-
ity as well as any number of neighborhood com-
munities.
There are signs, however, that Ann Arbor's com-
munities, which insisted during the sixties that they be
recognized as autonomous cultures, have rediscovered
an old pleasure. Immense good will was both the in-
itiator and product of the city's first annual ethnic fair
which celebrated the virtues of diversity. The public
schools have moved quietly and effectively to create an
atmosphere of intercultural affection with their in-
creased emphasis on the fact that diversity is normal
and indeed necessary for a healthy society. Thought
permanently lost a decade ago, the traditional Ameri-
can sense of community seems to be reasserting itself in
Ann Arbor.
If there is a theme in Ann Arbor's history, a persistent
preoccupation of its citizens, perhaps it is a shared con-
cern for the character of the town. The settlers and
subsequent inhabitants of Ann Arbor are not unique in
this cast of mind. The Pilgrims and Puritans were de-
termined to construct the perfect society based on their
understanding of Biblical precedent. Dissatisfied par-
ticipants were encouraged to leave established villages,
move a reasonable distance away, and organize their
own settlements. Long after the religious content of
such separations had evaporated, the tradition of mov-
ing on to more congenial surroundings remained.
John Allen was a participant and contributor to this
restless tendency. His motives in platting “Annarbour”
were personal and mercenary. Yet linking his wife's
name with a synonym for a cultivated garden by its very
sentimentality suggests Allen thought of a town as a safe
haven, as did many others. Lucy Morgan's boosterism
is produced without ulterior motive; her “modest' for-
tune took shape some twenty-nine years after she pen-
ned her initial favorable description of the village. One
remembers also the Silver Greys demonstrating, sym-
bolically, their desire for a safe, secure place to live.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century and
the early years of the next, management of society
became the specific concern of people history has label-
led "reformers." To Ann Arbor's reform mayor Samuel
Beakes, the security of the town's citizens was best
assured under a city government run by specialists ac-
countable to the public. Ann Arbor's pre-WWI “moral
reformers” were part of a nation-wide movement to
refurbish America. The rhetoric accompanying their
activities suggests a seventeenth-century heritage as
well as a continuing American tradition. The campaign
against the fly is to insure "the ideal human environ-
ment” in a "City with a Conscience.'
The commission completed by the Olmsted Brothers
after WWI to draw up a master plan for the city is part
and parcel of this “conscience.” Despite its overem-
phasis on exclusive residential districts, the report did
stress a long-acknowledged relationship between trees,
grass, and quiet and contented human beings.
Moreover, the report, simply by its very existence, pro-
vided assurance that the integrity of the town was being
rationally defended. The town's extraordinary response
to the early years of the Great Depression indicates that
a sense of community responsibility was still strong.
1)
119
1940-1974

98,
10 10
55
Harmon Scores on Michigan State, 1940

Second Baptist Church Annual Harvest Day Celebration
120
1940-1974

"OUR TOWN
WILLIAM HOLDEN
MARTHA SCOTT
ER
am
Maynard Street, from the South

\TIME/
TO BUY
WAR BONDS
State Savings Bank, March 1943
121
1940-1974

Victory Gardeners, July 1943

th
EVERY MINUTE COUNTS
Hoover Steel Ball Employees, July 1942
122
1940-1974
-

VASOS
0
V-J Day at Washington and Main, August 1945

FOR CREDIT
INSPECTED PARTS
POSTED
CASKETS
Minute Man Flag being Presented to Dodge Sales, September 1942
123
1940-1974
1
1

DRUS
F. W. WOOLWORTH C
1
CHUGS
Main Street, 1952

NIYE
Helen Hayes with Polio Victim at University Hospital, April 1953
124
1940-1974

1
1
1
Thomas Francis, Jr. and Jonas Salk, April 1955
125

1940-1974
RENNEDY
KEN
99
WITH
NNEDY
John Kennedy on the Michigan Union Steps, "Peace Corps Speech"
Richard Nixon Whistle Stopping in Ann Arbor, October 21, 1960
126
1940-1974
1

1
.
1
1
Lyndon Johnson and Harlan Hatcher, U-M Commencement 1964

Edward White, James McDivitt, and George Romney, June 1965
127
1940-1974

U-M Peach Mountain Telescope

NO
PUSH
EDT
Institute of Science and Technology Sound Experiment, The University of Michigan
128
1940-1974

Ford Nuclear Reactor, Dedicated to the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy
129
1940-1974

m
1
St
Bendix, May 1962

1
Parke Davis, September 1960
130
1940-1974

35
WPAG
RE
1050
Arborland Kresge Store Opening, February 1962

Them Ar
Briarwood Mall Interior, January 1974
131
1940-1974

MAKE LOVE
INOT WAR
WE
IGN
U-M Homecoming Parade, October 1965

.
Bomb Crater Dig, May 1972
132
1940-1974

NOT
Physics-Astronomy Building at The University of Michigan

As
ER
COMMUNITY DEVE
Dedication of the Community Development Center, Fall 1972
133
1940-1974

.
Eugene Ormandy at the May Festival

Island Park, December 1970
134
1940-1974

Lt
DUNKIN' DONUT
ories
:
DRUGS
POTECA
Main Street, from the South

Pent
GILERAR
PAINTINGS
0 000
L
The Art Fair
135
1940-1974

Farmers' Market

DO NOT
ENTER
DO NOT
DITER
St. Andrews Episcopal Church
136
1940-1974

The Old West Side

LANN
ALDIVISION
TAR
|
Moses Rogers House, Division and Ann Streets
137
1940-1974

Wilson-Wahr House, Division and Ann Streets
138
1940-1974

Palmer-Laubengayer House, Division and Ann Streets

1
1
Wells-Babcock House, Division and Ann Streets
139
1
|
1
1
1
1
1
Bibliographical Note
The first history of Ann Arbor was published as a
consequence of Ann Arbor's centennial celebration.
Now dated and containing numerous factual errors,
Orlando W. Stephenson's 1927 history does present
some useful information about the development of the
city.
There have been several popular histories of Ann
Arbor. Because of its careful research particularly on the
houses of the city, Lela Duff's Ann Arbor Yesterdays is
of special value. Miss Duff has written also the best
history of public education in the town, Pioneer School.
All the various Washtenau County histories begin-
ning with the 1881 volume contain information about
the city of Ann Arbor and its citizens though they make
no pretense of being comprehensive.
Concerning the founding of the town, the most de-
finitive statement is Russell E. Bidlack, "John Allen and
the Founding of Ann Arbor," Michigan Historical Col-
lections Bulletin No. 12, 1962. Other articles and mater-
ial relating to the history of Ann Arbor can be found in
volumes of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collec-
tions and Michigan History Magazine.
One of the most useful general sources of the history
of the city is its newspapers. An excellent history of the
earliest is Louis Doll, A History of Newspapers in Ann
Arbor. Many files, complete or in part, have been pre-
served. The largest collection is in the Michigan Histori-
cal Collections; additional copies can be found in the
Rare Book Room and the General Library of The Uni-
versity of Michigan. Further information can be found in
the occasional publication of the Washtenaw Historical
Society, Washtenaw Impressions, which is largely com-
prised of articles written by non-professional historians.
Indispensable for the study of the history of any city
in Michigan are the census reports, both those con-
ducted by the United States Government and those
conducted by the State of Michigan in years ending in
four. Some of the earliest manuscript census records for
Ann Arbor are located in the Michigan Historical Collec-
tions. Other useful statistical sources are the Ann Arbor
city directories, the first of which was issued in 1860.
There is a wealth of information on all phases of Ann
Arbor in a vast variety of publications including the
histories of churches, organizations, business firms,
promotional literature, and school publications. Official
city publications, particularly the proceedings of council
which have been published since 1891, are indispens-
able.
In addition to these published sources, the manu-
script sources on the city are rich, beginning with a
collection of John and Ann Allen's papers located in the
Michigan Historical Collections. The Allen papers rep-
resent a small fraction of manuscript records on the city
available in the Michigan Historical Collections/Bentley
Historical Library. The personal papers of many of the
mayors of the city, city council members, and other
officials, plus the personal papers of many Ann Arbor-
ites, and the records of religious, reform, educational,
business, and social organizations which played active
roles in the city's history are also preserved in the Bent-
ley Historical Library. Here too, can be found extensive
collections of broadsides and ephemera on the city's
history as well as the largest single source of photo-
graphs, a small sampling of which is reproduced in this
volume.
141
Photo Credits
Michigan State Library: 8, top
Herbert Pfabe, Sr., Collection: 12
Ann Arbor Historical Foundation: 38
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: 117, bottom
Hank Weber: 130, bottom
Cecil Lockard: 132, bottom
Jack Stubbs: 133, bottom
Patrick Mullaly: 137, top
The Sam Sturgis Collection: 27, bottom; 44; 46; 49, top; 51; 62; 67, top; 70, top; 72,
bottom; 88, bottom; 98, bottom; 99; 100
Eck Stanger Ann Arbor News Collection: 88, top; 92, 93; 94; 95, 96, bottom; 97; 98,
top; 101; 102, 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 108; 109; 110; 111; 112, 116, top; 120,
top; 121, bottom; 122, 123, 124, 125; 126; 130, top; 131, top; 134, bottom; 136,
bottom; 137; 138, 139
Balance of photos from the Michigan Historical Collections/Bentley Historical Library,
The University of Michigan
142
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