Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation
A Walking Tour of the City’s History
Walking through downtown Ann Arbor, you may notice large three dimensional glass panels, pedestal images and other artifacts that portray the city’s history as it relates to the present streetscape. The first of its kind in the nation, this award-winning street exhibit program includes permanent sidewalk installations at 16 landmark sites.
By providing a visual history of Ann Arbor, the exhibits offer a sense of place and a unique way for residents and visitors to connect to our community’s history. As part of its educational mission, the Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit Program hosts walking tours for hundreds of area high school students each year. They learn that Ann Arbor wanted to be named our State’s capital, but instead became home to the University of Michigan, and that a trolley once traveled down Depot Street.
A $10,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation helped fund the Exhibit program’s first installation at Courthouse Square, which tells the story of a bustling center of civic life during the town’s early history. Additional funding from AAACF also helped generate broad community support for the Exhibit program, which is privately funded and has proven to be a valuable addition to our community’s landscape and history.
One of the many ways the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation supports all that is good in our community.
Read more "good" stories at:
aaacf.org/stories
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