1900 - 1999

William Jennings Bryan delivers a campaign speech, interrupted by student heckling, at Ann Arbor Courthouse.

U of M National Football Championship.

U of M National Football Championship. Desderide Grocery (later Zingermans) built.

U of M National Football Championship.

First movie, The Great Train Robbery, at Light Infantry Armory. A2 High School burned down. U of M National Football Championship. YMCA building completed at 100 N. Fourth Ave.    

In a game called the "First Great Game of the Century," undefeated Chicago defeated undefeated Michigan 2-0.  Tragically, U of M football player, William Clark, considered the goat of the game, shot himself seven years later.   

First nickleloeon, Theatorium, 199 E. Liberty; the first vaudeville house, The Bijou at 209 E. Washington.

New Ann Arbor High School opened. Majestic Theater opened. Carnegie Library built.

Star Theater student riot.

Ann Arbor Art Association, the oldest community arts organization in Michigan, was established.

Burns Park is named after Botany Professor George Burns, also the Parks Commissioner. Braun Court built.

Armory completed at northwest corner of Fifth and Ann St. 

Edison built Barton Dam.

Hill Auditorium completed.

First municipal bathing beach on Huron river. Island Park Shelter built. Edison Power station built at 987 Broadway.

Martha Cook dormitory completed.   

First Ann Arbor Red Cross chapter formed. Lane Hall built 204 S. State. Beth Isreal Congregation started.

2200 Ann Arborites registered for the draft to fight in WWI. Allmendinger Park was started by a gift of 3.25 acres in 1917 from Mr. G. Frank Allmendinger.

U of M National Football Championship.    

Farmers Market started and moved to current location in 1930s. Barton Hills golf club built. Michigan Union built. Eli Gallup named first Superintend of Parks.  

Ann Arbor Fire Station Engine house opened. 

General Ferdinand Foch, Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces, speaks in Ann Arbor on Nov. 7.

James J. Crawford Elks Lodge was chartered. Elisha Jones School (now Community High) opened. Huron Hills Golf Course opened.

U of M National Football Championship. First Zoning law was established.      

Centennial celebration on Feb 27, 588 guests at the Michigan Union. Angell Hall built.   

Actress Martha Vickers born in Ann Arbor and died in LA in 1971. Ann Arborite Herb Twining founded Camp Al-Gon-Quian in 1925 as a private residential camp for boys.   

Salvation Army built its headquaters downtown at the southwest corner of Fifth and Washington.

Michigan football stadium built; Land Title Building built at 106 N. Fourth.

Opening of the Michigan Theater; Wil-Dean Apartment built at 200 N. State. A2 Symphony Orchestra formed. 

Booker Brooks was the first African American to letter in track. Kingsley Post Apartments built at 809 E. Kingsley. Michigan League opened. Ann Arbor Civic Theater opened.  

The Great Depression begins. Ann Arbor saved by University of Michigan.

Farmers Market moved to its current location.

U of M National Football Championship; Gerald Ford played center. The Rock was placed at Hill and Washtenaw by Eli Gallup. The Intercooperative Council was formed with the first cooperative housing.

American Broach, King-Seeley and Hoover Ball and Bearing all had cut off production and laid off workers.  Another U of M National Football championship with Gerald Ford at center. Schlanderers & Sons jewelery founded.     

Gerald Ford protested the benching of African-American player, Willis Ward, at the U of M-Georgia Tech game.   

Bentley Historical Library created.

Burton Memorial tower completed. 

Herman Weber opened Weber's Restaurant after working for Bill Metzger as a dishwasher.  

The Water Treatment Plant for Ann Arbor was built.

German Park opens on Pontiac Trail. The Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club (AAFSC) was established.  

Schumacher's Hardware closed.

Ann Arbor's first black attorney, John L. Ragland, began practicing in the Kayser Block building

The State Theater opened.

Japanese Submarine Parade.  The sub had been captured at Pearl Harbor.     

Katherine Anderson of the Marvelettes was born this year in Ann Arbor. Cazzie Russell was born this year.   

On August 14, a huge crowd gathered downtown to celebrate the end of WWII. U of M classes were cancelled.

Virginia Patton Moss, a movie star, played Ruth Bailey in a Wonderful Life. She was a U of M grad and raised her family in Ann Arbor. She died in 2022.

U of M National Football Championship.    

U of M National Football Championship.  

Opening of the Flame, Ann Arbor first gay bar.   

U of M Professor William Palmer and his wife, Mary, hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build a house at 227 Orchard Hills.

Ann Arbor City Women's Club started. Ann Arbor Amateur Hockey Association started.

The first effective polio vaccine was created by Dr. Jonas Salk, once a research fellow at U of M. Potters Guild opens.

Eddie Owens became the first black detective in Ann Arbor.      

Ann Arbor Ski Club held first meeting.

James Earl Jones graduated from U of M this year. Vets Park was named.  The site used to be the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds.    

YMCA and YWCA merged for the first time in the US, and raised money to build a new facility at 350 S. Fifth. The city of East Ann Arbor merged with Ann Arbor.

Paul Robeson not allowed to perform in Ann Arbor because of race and political views.

International Neighbors started this year. The Ann Arbor Public Library moved from the Carnegie Library on Huron to its current location at 343 S. Fifth.   

Economist Kenneth Boulding started the Center for the Study of Conflict Resolution while a U-M Professor. Big Georges opened this year. 

JFK's speech in Ann Arbor. University Reformed Church built at 1001 E. Huron. Students for Democratic society first met in Ann Arbor. Local resident Alan Haber became its first President. Ann Arbor Art Fair begins. Treasure Mart opens on Detroit St. 

Heidleberg Restaurant opened on Main Street.

Ann Arbor Zoo (started in 1929) closed this year.  It was located behind the Ruthven Museum off Geddes.

J. David Singer, U of M Political Science Professor, started the Correlates of War project and helped form the Peace Science Society. The Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest avant garde and experimental film festival in North America, was founded by George Manupelli.

Ann Arbor passed a fair housing ordinance.   

Anti-War movement began at the U of M in 1965. The first teach-in against the Vietnam War. The Ark began on Hill Street as a collobration of four churches: First Presbyterian, Calvary Presbyterian, Northside Presbyterian churches and Campus Chapel. Sister city relationship with Tubingen, Baden-Wurtteberg, Germany, began. Washtenaw Community College opens.

Four UFOs were sited in Lima Township, red-green objects moving at fantastic speeds. They remain a mystery. 

Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair begins. Old West Side Association started. Leslie Park golf course opened.   

A bomb went off in downtown Ann Arbor at 450 S. Main St. David Valler later confessed to the attack. White Panther party formed by Pun Plamondon, Leni Sinclair and John Sinclair.  Ann Arbor Antiques Market founded.

Ann Arbor Historical Foundation formed. Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is founded. The City of A2 acquired Kempf House and turned it into a museum. Ann Arbor Blues Festival started. 

Black Action Movement stages first protest against the policies and actions of U of M, closing campus for 18 days.

The public housing complex, Miller Manor, was built. People's Food Coop opened. Power Center built. John Sinclair Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena with John Lennon, Yolo Ono, Bob Seger, Phil Ochs and Stevie Wonder.

Former Jones School reopened as Community High School. Old West Side History District listed on National Register of Historic Places. A2 Blue Festival became the A2 Blues and Jazz Festival. First Hash Bash.

Division Street Historic District created. Main library on S. Fifth opened. Briarwood Mall opened. Comic Opera Guild formed.      

Sesquicentennial year. Kerrytown Market Building was finished at 405-415 N. Fifth. First Ann Arbow Pow Wow. Dexter Ann Arbor Run begins. 

Liberty Street Historic District (West) created. Albert Wheeler is elected, A2s only Black Mayor.  

Ann Arbor Observer launched publication.

The Ann Arbor District Library was doubled in size with an addition designed by Donald Van Curler.   

Old West Side, Central Campus, and Northern Brewery Historic Districts created.

Ann Street Historic Block created. Ann Arbor Hands On Museum opens. Michigan Theater Foundation opens.

Washtenaw/Hill Historic District 1 created.  The first Naked Mile. It ended in 2004. State Street Area Association is formed.

Fischer's Hardware closed.  

Cobblestone Historic District created. Zingerman's Deli opened.

Old Fourth Ward Historic District created. DDA created by Council action.      

Famous People Mural created by Richard Wolk at 300 S. State. Dioxane found in Ann Arbor's drinking water from Gelman's use of it to produce medical filters. Kerrytown Concert House formed.  

Slow pitch softball peaked with 450 teams and 6300 players. Dominos Pizza moves to Dominos Farms. Pretzel Bell closes.     

Washtenaw/Hill Historic District 1 created. The first Naked Mile; It ended in 2004. State Street Area Association is formed.

Dr. Edward Linker and Dennis Chernin moved a Queen Anne Victorian from 410-416 S. Main to 2345 Huron Parkway.

Showcase Cinemas opened this year at 4100 Carpenter Rd. Whiffletree restaurant burns down.

East William Street, Fourth/Ann Street and Main Street Historic Districts created. U of M Basketball National Championship.  

Live Nirvana concert at the Blind Pig.

YMCA expanded to provide single room occupancy for up to 100 single rooms.

State Street Historic District and East Liberty Street Historic Block created.

African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County formed, now at 1528 Pontiac Trail. Drake's Sandwich Shop closes.      

Chinese American Society of Ann Arbor founded.  

Aut Bar, the only gay bar, established. First year of Ann Arbor Pride Festival. Schlenkers Hardware (last one downtown) closed.

Ku Klux Klan rally in downtown Ann Arbor. Keish Thomas gains national recognition for shielding a protestor. The Ark opened at its current location on Main Street. African American Cultural and History Museum opens.

U of M National Football Championship. Letita Byrd selected as Ann Arbor's first Citizen of the Year. First year of the Ann Arbor African American Downtown Festival.

Mack School became Ann Arbor Open School.

Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit Program installs first Historic marker at Courthouse Square. County wide Art + Cultural summit.