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AHistory
History · Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor’s post office opened in 1824, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #65 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

35 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 1,330 buildings between them. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1860.

1824first post office
35on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
51famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ann Arbor’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ann Arbor began

When was Ann Arbor founded?

1824

The Ann Arbor post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 5,097 in 18602020 census: 123,851202 years

How historic is Ann Arbor?

A

More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Ann Arbor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Ann Arbor’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ann Arbor is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #65 of 701 in Michigan. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ann Arbor’s overall grade.
Founding era1824, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194014.8% of homes (±1.1) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register35 listings, 1,368 historic buildings, 112 per 10,000 residents · typical MI town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 90%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 91%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Ann Arbor ranks #67 on History.

Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Ann Arbor’s 112 sits above most of its state (94% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1,368 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Ann Arbor’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Old West Side Historic District takes in 1,300 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register35 places on the National Register.Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1888 to 1925, drew every building in Ann Arbor.A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1851–1898.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

35 listings protect 1,368 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
35
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1,368
each building in a district counts
first listed
1970
President's House, University Of Michigan
President's House, University Of MichiganOrrin White HouseAnn Arbor Central Fire Station, built 1978Judge Robert S. Wilson HouseNewberry HallOld West Side Historic DistrictHenry S. Frieze HouseDr. Benajah Ticknor HouseHenry Bennett HouseDetroit Observatory, built 1854Michigan Central Railroad Depot, built 1886Main Street Post OfficeUniversity Of Michigan Central Campus Historic DistrictUnitarian Universalist ChurchNorthern BreweryMichigan Theater Building, built 1928Methodist Episcopal Church ParsonageJacob Hoffstetter HouseHarris Hall, built 1886William Anderson HouseFirst National Bank Building, built 1927Germania Building ComplexWeinmann Block, built 1885Nickels Arcade, built 1915Bell-Spalding HouseThomas Earl House, built 1860Kellogg-Warden House, built 1835Delta Upsilon Fraternity House, built 1902Stone SchoolWilliam B. and Mary Shuford Palmer HouseFloyd R. Mechem House, built 1898Tuomy Hills Service Station, built 1928Arnold and Gertrude Goss HouseRobert C. and Bettie J. (Sponseller) Metcalf House, built 1952William and Elizabeth (Bodanzky) Muschenheim House, built 1954
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival8
Italianate4
Romanesque3
Late Victorian3
Colonial Revival2
Bungalow2
President's House, University Of MichiganItalianate
Orrin White HouseBuilding
Ann Arbor Central Fire StationItalianate · Built 1978
Judge Robert S. Wilson HouseGreek Revival
Newberry HallBuilding
Old West Side Historic DistrictColonial Revival
Henry S. Frieze HouseItalianate
Dr. Benajah Ticknor HouseBuilding
All 35 listings
Henry Bennett HouseBuilding · listed 1973Detroit ObservatoryBuilding · listed 1973Michigan Central Railroad DepotBuilding · listed 1975Main Street Post OfficeBuilding · listed 1978University Of Michigan Central Campus Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1978Unitarian Universalist ChurchBuilding · listed 1978Northern BreweryBuilding · listed 1979Michigan Theater BuildingBuilding · listed 1980Methodist Episcopal Church ParsonageBuilding · listed 1982Jacob Hoffstetter HouseBuilding · listed 1982Harris HallBuilding · listed 1982William Anderson HouseBuilding · listed 1982First National Bank BuildingBuilding · listed 1982Germania Building ComplexBuilding · listed 1983Weinmann BlockBuilding · listed 1983Nickels ArcadeBuilding · listed 1987Bell-Spalding HouseBuilding · listed 1990Thomas Earl HouseBuilding · listed 1992Kellogg-Warden HouseBuilding · listed 1994Delta Upsilon Fraternity HouseBuilding · listed 1995Stone SchoolBuilding · listed 1995William B. and Mary Shuford Palmer HouseBuilding · listed 1999Floyd R. Mechem HouseBuilding · listed 1999Tuomy Hills Service StationBuilding · listed 2000Arnold and Gertrude Goss HouseBuilding · listed 2006Robert C. and Bettie J. (Sponseller) Metcalf HouseBuilding · listed 2016William and Elizabeth (Bodanzky) Muschenheim HouseBuilding · listed 2016

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Every building

Ann Arbor, building by building, 1888–1925

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Ann Arbor fire insurance map, 1888, sheet 11888Sheet 1 of 10
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Ann Arbor came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ann Arbor.

Read it all →

The region was once inhabited by several Native American tribes, the most prominent being the Anishinaabe people of the Three Fires: the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi. The Potawatomi founded two villages in the area of what is now Ann Arbor in about 1774. Other tribes that inhabited the area included the Wyandots and Sauk. These peoples established several trails that converged on present-day Ann Arbor. The land that included Washtenaw County was ceded to the U.S. by the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Wyandot in the Treaty of Detroit of 1807.

ChaptersBefore founding as Ann Arbor19th century20th century21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Ann Arbor in 1881

Passages that mention Ann Arbor, cut from the printed page as they were published.

superficies intersected by valleys, and relieved by numberless hills and ranges of hills. This configuration is conspicuously seen along the whole valley of the Huron and all the southwestern part of the town of Ann Arbor, the eastern part of Scio, the northwestern part of Sharon, the central part …
History of Washtenaw County, Michigan1881 · page 155Read the page →
Read the text

superficies intersected by valleys, and relieved by numberless hills and ranges of hills. This configuration is conspicuously seen along the whole valley of the Huron and all the southwestern part of the town of Ann Arbor, the eastern part of Scio, the northwestern part of Sharon, the central part of Sylvan on each side of the great marsh, the soiitheastern, central and northern parts of Lyndon, and the western part of Dexter. These hillsides, especially in the town of Ann Arbor, have been extensively planted to peach-trees

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The boundaries of the village, under the amended act of 1846, were enlarged and were as follows: "So much of that tract of country situated in the township of Ann Arbor, in the county of Washtenaw, known as the south half of sec. 20, the southwest one-quarter of sec. 21, the west half of sec. 28, a…
History of Washtenaw County, Michigan1881 · page 901Read the page →
Read the text

The boundaries of the village, under the amended act of 1846, were enlarged and were as follows: "So much of that tract of country situated in the township of Ann Arbor, in the county of Washtenaw, known as the south half of sec. 20, the southwest one-quarter of sec. 21, the west half of sec. 28, and sec. 29, lying south of the railroad, except that part of sec. 28 belonging to Dwight Kellogg, be, and the same is, hereby constituted a town, corporate by the name of the village of Ann Arbor."

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Ann Arbor, 1824 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1824Post officeThe Ann Arbor post office opens
  3. 1851In the archiveAnti-Semitic advertisement in the Michigan Argus
  4. 1854BuiltDetroit Observatory is built
  5. 1874In the archiveWashtenaw Co. Poor House & Insane Asylum, Pittsfield Tp. Mich
  6. 1880In the archiveAnn Arbor, the gymnasium
  7. 1886BuiltMichigan Central Railroad Depot is built
  8. 1890In the archivePsi Upsilon house
  9. 20th century
  10. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1915Born hereThomas Huckle Weller is born here
  12. 1928BuiltMichigan Theater Building is built
  13. 1936Born hereSamuel C. C. Ting is born here
  14. 1947Born hereMichael Porter is born here
  15. 1960Born hereEric Betzig is born here
  16. 1978BuiltAnn Arbor Central Fire Station is built
By decade

Ann Arbor, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1890s18 items
Anti-Semitic advertisement in the Michigan Argus1851Anti-Semitic advertisement in the Michigan ArgusWashtenaw Co. Poor House & Insane Asylum, Pittsfield Tp. Mich1874Washtenaw Co. Poor House & Insane Asylum, Pittsfield …Ann Arbor, the gymnasium1880Ann Arbor, the gymnasiumAlpha Delta Phi House1883Alpha Delta Phi HousePsi Upsilon house1890Psi Upsilon houseMuseum, U. of M1890Museum, U. of MDelta Kappa Epsilon house1890Delta Kappa Epsilon houseMain library, U. of M1890Main library, U. of MWaterman Gymnasium, U. of M1890Waterman Gymnasium, U. of MWaterman Gymnasium, U. of M1890Waterman Gymnasium, U. of MEngineering laboratory, U. of M1890Engineering laboratory, U. of MUniversity Hall, U. of M1890University Hall, U. of MLaw Building, U. of M1890Law Building, U. of MThe Observatory, U. of M1890The Observatory, U. of MMedical building, U. of M. [University of Michigan]1890Medical building, U. of M. [University of Michigan]Michigan Central Station1895Michigan Central StationA Fraternity House, Univ. Mich., Ann Arbor, Mich1898A Fraternity House, Univ. Mich., Ann Arbor, MichObservatory, Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor, Mich1898Observatory, Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor, Mich
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Ann Arbor on the map, 1902 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ann Arbor. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Ann Arbor on the 1902 USGS mapAnn Arbor on the 1965 USGS mapAnn Arbor on the 1973 USGS mapAnn Arbor on the 1982 USGS map1902South Lyon sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ann Arbor.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Anti-Semitic advertisement in the Michigan Argus
Retake this viewAnti-Semitic advertisement in the Michigan Argus, 1851

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ann Arbor’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Ann Arbor, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000120,000190019502000123,851

Grew from 5,097 people in 1860 to 123,851 in 2020, more than tenfold.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ann Arbor’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

51 famous people were born in Ann Arbor

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Samuel C. C. TingChinese-American physicist · b. 1936
Eric BetzigAmerican physicist · b. 1960
Thomas Huckle WellerAmerican virologist · b. 1915
Michael PorterAmerican engineer and economist · b. 1947
Alvin PlantingaAmerican Christian philosopher · b. 1932
William Redington HewlettAmerican electrical engineer, co-founder of Hew… · b. 1913
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Ann Arbor’s post office has been open since 1824.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Sunnyside Mobile Home Park
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ann Arbor
Arborcrest Memorial ParkBethlehemFairviewForest HillPioneerSaint Andrew's Memorial Cloister GardenSaint Clare's Episcopal Church Chapel ColumbariumSaint Thomas' Catholic

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Ann Arbor’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAnti-Semitic advertisement in the Michi…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Ann Arbor Township1 historic placeB+Scio Township1 historic placeB−Pittsfield Township1 historic placeBBarton HillsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ann Arbor’s history

What year was Ann Arbor founded?

The Ann Arbor post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Ann Arbor rank for history?

Ann Arbor is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #65 of 701 in Michigan. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Ann Arbor?

35 listings: 33 buildings, among them the President's House, University Of Michigan (listed 1970, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Old West Side Historic District and the University Of Michigan Central Campus Historic District, with 1,330 contributing buildings. 1,368 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Ann Arbor?

15% of Ann Arbor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1971.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (14), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (35), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.