Thirty-eight miles west of Detroit, the train halts at ANN ARBOR, the county seat of Washtenaw county, which has a resident population of about ten thousand, not including the students of the State University, which number nearly fifteen hundred. The city is pleasantly situated on both sides of the Huron River, its streets being wide, finely laid out, and adorned with shade trees. The Toledo, Ann Arbor & Grand Trunk Railway gives the place a north and south business outlet, while the Central takes care of the east and west business. The Huron River furnishes excellent water power, and the flourishing industries of the city show how well it is improved.
In addition to all these, its reputation as an educational center places it among the most important of Michigan cities. Its local public schools are of a high order of excellence, especially its High School, which occupies an elegant building costing $50,000. But its chief importance in this respect is from the fact of its being the seat of the University of Michigan, with its departments of literature, science and arts, law, medicine, pharmacy, dental surgery, and engineering. This institution has almost a world-wide reputation as one of the foremost schools in the land, and indeed many of its students are from abroad, attracted by its fame, and the excellent facilities at their command.
The St. James, Cook, and Leonard Houses, are the principal hotels.
YPSILANTI, eight miles distant from Ann Arbor, is the next stopping place, and is a pleasant town of some five thousand inhabitants. The fine water power of Huron River is here utilized by several manufactories, among which that of paper-making is brought to a high state of excellence. In addition to the railroad facilities afforded by the Michigan Central, it has southerly communication by means of a branch of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. It is the seat of the State Normal School, which occupies an elegant building, and beautiful grounds, the latter donated to the State for the purpose. There are many fine residences here, some of them the homes of business men of Detroit.
The Roberts, Lewis, and Hawkins Houses, the European, and several others, furnish adequate hotel accommodations.