CuriosiD: How did Ann Arbor get its name?
In the latest episode of CuriosiD, WDET’s Amanda LeClaire digs into the history behind Ann Arbor’s name with the help of local historian Grace Shackman.
A view of Main Street South from Ann Street in Ann Arbor, 1861/1862.
WDET’s CuriosiD series answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
In this episode of CuriosiD, we answer the question:
“How did Ann Arbor get its name?”
Ann Arbor is known for its tree-lined streets and vibrant university-town feel. But how did it get its name? One WDET listener wanted to find out.
Rhea Walden, a longtime WDET listener and social worker in metro Detroit, spent years living and studying in the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor area. She says the question had been on her mind for decades. So, she wrote to CuriosiD.
The short answer
There are a couple theories about how Ann Arbor got its name.
The most widely accepted version — and the one Walden remembers reading — is that the town was named after the founders’ wives.
“Every time I went to Ann Arbor, I would always wonder, how did this place get its name?” Walden said. “I looked it up, and I swear it said that it was named after one of the founders’ wives. So when the question popped back up in my head some years later, I went to go look it up again — it was not there.”
To get an answer, we turned to Grace Shackman, a longtime Ann Arbor historian and writer for the Ann Arbor Observer, who confirmed the theory.
Meet the founders
Ann Arbor was officially founded in 1824 by two men: John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. But despite their place in the city’s history, Shackman says they weren’t community visionaries.
“These two guys met on the way here. They also knew that…the next year the Erie Canal was going to open. In which time it would be a lot easier for people to get here,” she said. “So they decided to pool their money, and they each, you know, equal to what they could put in, but bought this land.”
Allen and Rumsey were land speculators, looking to turn a profit. They purchased 640 acres of land along the Huron River and planned to subdivide it into smaller plots to sell to new settlers.
To make the town more appealing — and valuable — they lobbied to have it named the Washtenaw County seat.
“They got it because they offered free land to the government,” Shackman said. “And they offered to build a courthouse and a jail, and also a bridge across the Huron River.”
So why ‘Ann Arbor’?
According to Shackman, the naming of the city has a mix of romance and marketing behind it.
“John Allen was married to Ann Allen, and Rumsey — the woman that he was running away with — was Mary Ann Rumsey. So they decided on ‘Ann’s’… Ann Arbor.”
The word “Arbor” was likely a nod to the oak trees that once dominated the landscape, she said.
And then they left…
Despite founding the city, neither of Ann Arbor’s founders stayed very long.
“These two guys were just…it was just for money. And neither of them stayed very long,” Shackman said. “John Allen, he just… he was a wheeler-dealer, and he just kept moving. So he ended up, I think, on the West Coast, and then he died.”
Mary Ann Rumsey also disappeared from town history. And Ann Allen? She didn’t stay either.
“She was from Virginia, and she liked Virginia ‘civilized’ life better,” Shackman said. “When [Allen] left, she just went back to Virginia.”
The name (and city) endured
The city’s original spelling was “Annarbour,” recorded in Wayne County on May 25, 1824. Over time, it became the spelling we know today.
Despite its mercenary beginnings, Ann Arbor grew into a thriving and beloved city:
- 1837: The University of Michigan relocated to Ann Arbor, transforming it into an academic center.
- It became a hub for German immigrants, artists, musicians, and eventually a global destination for progressive ideas and innovation.
And through all that, the name continued.
“Even if the founders weren’t in it for the long haul, it’s kind of nice that the name stuck,” Rhea said.
We want to hear from you!
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More from CuriosiD:
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- What happened to the Cobo Hall Christmas Carnival?
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