Who knew?!The Michigan Union used to have a faculty lounge and billiards room, swimming pool, hotel, and bowling alley.
Do you have family or friends coming to visit? Are you looking for a hotel or a restaurant to recommend? Wondering how to sign up for an official University of Michigan campus tour? This section can help you with all of that, plus more.
Prospective undergraduate students are invited and encouraged to attend a Group Information Session. Coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, prospective students learn more about the University of Michigan and the application process. Many prospective students choose to attend an information session and then depart on a guided walking tour of campus. You can do either or both. The tour and information session are both provided by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. The guided walking tours are for prospective students, their families, new faculty and staff, and other University visitors. The tour guides are experts on life at Michigan. Tours take approximately an hour and are on despite the weather. Tours leave from the Huetwell Visitors Center which is located in the Student Activities Building. Enter through the main entrance on Maynard Street. Reservations are required so make sure to schedule early!
Central Campus Tour InfoIf you are interested in discovering the College of Engineering on North Campus you can do so by scheduling an information session and tour. Tours are held Monday through Friday only. (Tours are not available on Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, or between academic terms.) To schedule your tour please call the Lurie Engineering Center at (734).647.7000 or register on the web.
North Campus Tour InfoEnd of Section
Campus Tours/Info Sessions
Visiting Ann Arbor
Twenty times in the last two million years glaciers have covered Ann Arbor. The varied topography today is a result of the last of the glaciers known as the Wisconsinan, which made an uneven withdrawal after a warmer period. Each time it paused, it deposited extra amounts of debris, which formed the two ridges on the east and west side of the city (bicyclists are very much aware of these!). At times during its glacial period, Ann Arbor was beneath as much as two miles of ice!
The rock on Hill Street
Many large boulders left by the glacier were gathered by early settlers to build foundations for their homes, and "Ann Arbor's Most Famous Glacial Erratic" is the painted rock at Washtenaw Avenue by Hill Street. This huge chunk of Canadian limestone, deposited by glaciers in a gravel pit on Pontiac Trail, was moved to Ann Arbor by Eli Gallup in 1932 to become a memorial honoring George Washington on his 200th birthday. Buried in the foundation of the rock is a box containing its history and origin. Originally the rock was painted gray and had a copper plaque with a tribute to President Washington. In more recent years, the rock has become the object of thousands of gallons of paint, in fact, that a favorite subject of speculation around town is the rock's true size!
Originally, "Annarbour", a romantic legend exists that says Ann Arbor was named for the wives of founders (1824) John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey (both women were called Ann) who sat in a wild grape arbor built for them by their husbands. Here, it is said, they whiled away the warm afternoons sewing and exchanging gossip. The two Anns undoubtedly did spend many afternoons visiting together, but these tete-a-tetes could not have been the inspiration for the naming of the village, as the name Ann Arbor was chosen and recorded five months prior to the arrival of Ann Allen. It is charming and probable that the Ann in Ann Arbor honors the two wives, the Arbor, however, more than likely comes from the common 19th century usage of the word "arbour" used to describe a grove of trees or shady spot, of which Ann Arbor had many.
A view down State Street
Ann Arbor soon became a bustling community, but having lost its bid to become the state capital, the city fathers were very eager to have Ann Arbor become the future site of the University of Michigan. Offering the most appealing inducement, a 40-acre tract of land on the edge of town, they achieved their goal. In 1841, the University was ready to open its Ann Arbor doors to seven students served by two faculty members. By 1865, only a short 24 years later, the University of Michigan with 1,145 student s had the largest university enrollment of any college. Always an enlightened and forward looking institution, the University's Regents in 1870 (strongly opposed by the faculty and student) adopted a resolution allowing the admission of women students. By 1891, the University was still the largest in the nation with 2,420 students representing most of the states, territories and eleven foreign countries. But unfortunately, by now the student tuition had doubled since 1860 and was $20 a year for residents and $30 for "outsiders". Even student room and board had skyrocketed and the most reasonable prices available were $2.50 per week!
Respectfully taken from "Ann Arbor Annotated", ©1986 by Nina C.R. Henry and Robert Passey
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AA Info
Visiting Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan was founded in 1817 as one of the first public universities in the nation. It was first established on 1,920 acres of land ceded by the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi people "...for a college at Detroit." The school moved from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1837, when Ann Arbor was only 13 years old. The city had a booming population of 2,000, a courthouse and jail, a bank, four churches and two mills. It had been established in 1824 by two Easterners, John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. The town was named to honor the wives of the founders, Mary Ann Rumsey and Ann Allen, and the natural arbor created by the massive oaks in the area.
Iconic law quad arches
It took four years to build the necessary facilities for the new campus in Ann Arbor. The buildings consisted of four faculty homes and one classroom-dormitory building. (One of the homes is still standing and is now the President's house.) Cows owned by the faculty grazed over much of campus. As late as 1845 the campus was covered in the summer with a crop of wheat, grown by a janitor as part of his remuneration. Faculty families harvested peaches from the orchard of the old Rumsey farm, and a wooden fence ran along the edge of campus to keep University cows in and city cows out.
In its first year in Ann Arbor, the University had two professors and seven students. There were more Regents (nineteen) than faculty and students combined. The reorganized University did not have a president, but the faculty elected a presiding officer each year from their own ranks.
Freshmen entering in 1841 (women were not admitted to the University until 1870) took admissions examinations in mathematics, geography, Latin, Greek, and other subjects. They also had to furnish "satisfactory testimonials of good moral character." Students paid an initial admissions fee of ten dollars but no tuition.
In 1866, Twenty-five years after the move to Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan became the largest university in the country, with 1205 enrolled students. In 1867, the enrollment reached an all-time high of 1255 students. At that time, the University was comprised of the Medicine Department, with 525 students; the Law Department, with 395 students; and the Literary Department, with 335 students. There were 33 faculty members.
Today, the University of Michigan remains one of the most distinguished universities in the world and a leader in higher education. It is consistently ranked among the nation's top universities, with over 51,000 students and 5,600 faculty at three campuses. The University of Michigan boasts of one of the largest health care complexes in the world, one of the most extensive university library systems in the country, and the some of the best computer access for students and faculty of any campus in the world. Over 5,500 undergraduate courses are taught each term in over 200 programs. Undergraduate, graduate and professional students have a choice of 19 separate schools and colleges, hundreds of majors, over 1000 student organizations, and thousands of concerts, recitals, speakers, symposia, films, and readings each year.
The Michigan LeagueThe students at the University of Michigan come from all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Michigan's teaching and research staff is considered one of the top five faculties in the country. They have included an astronaut, distinguished world authorities, Pulitzer Prize winners, internationally acclaimed performing artists and composers, Supreme Court Justices, best-selling novelists, artists, and filmmakers. Michigan has more than 100 named endowed chairs.
Michigan receives over $700 million in research expenditures annually. The diversity of the University's research activities, from medical to social to cultural, is a major contributor of Michigan's capacity for growth and development. And, through their teachers, Michigan students are often among the first to learn the applications of such research findings.
The University of Michigan's size, complexity and academic strength, its impressive array of resources and opportunities, the quality of its faculty and research institutes---all these elements contribute to the rich environment where students learn and challenge themselves as they come into contact with people, cultures and ideas from all over the world.
If you're interested in learning more about the history and traditions of the University of Michigan, visit the website of the History and Traditions Committee.
Information from The Treaty with the Wyandot, etc., ©1817 (Art 16) and The Making of the University of Michigan, by Howard H. Peckham ©1997
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History of UM
Visiting Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor is a popular destination in Michigan. From Saturday football games, major cultural events, campus visits, or a weekend getaway, Ann Arbor has it all. While you are here visiting in Ann Arbor, you'll more than likely need a place to stay. Let CIC help you with your travel plans by doing some of the information leg-work for you. Take a look at the Ann Arbor Accomodations Guide to ensure a nice, restful stay here in Ann Arbor.
Other Travel InfoEnd of Section
Hotel Accommodations
Visiting Ann Arbor
The Big House on game day
The original Michigan Stadium was completed in 1927 at a cost of over $950,000. The original stadium held 72,000 fans, but later expansions have raised that number to the current 107,501 capacity.
Michigan stadium attendance consistently breaks NCAA records, leading the nation in attendance in 24 of the last 25 seasons.
For more detailed information about the stadium, including seating and parking, please look at the Athletic Department website.
The stadium is open to the public for viewing weekdays between 8:30am and 3:30pm with access through Gate 9. On weeks with a home football game, the stadium will be open Monday-Wednesday only.
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Michigan Stadium
Visiting Ann Arbor
Location InfoEnd of Section
Museums, Observatories, & Planetariums
Visiting Ann Arbor
There are beautiful places nearby if you like to be outside. The Nichols Arboretum (the "Arb"), for example, has entrances on Geddes and Washington Heights. The Arb is a botanical preserve, with acres of rolling hills and every species of tree native to the state of Michigan. It's a popular walking and playing area in both summer and winter. The grounds are open everyday from 8am until dusk, and the Reader Center is open weekdays from 8:30am-4:30pm.
The Diag on Central Campus is another great place to experience the outdoors on campus
A great place to take your family when they come to visit is the University's Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The gardens include marked hiking trails of various lengths, landscaped gardens, and an extensive multi-climate conservatory containing plants of botanical interest from all parts of the world. It's a wonderful get-away from the cold winter weather. While you are there, be sure to visit the Conservatory and Gift Shop. The outside walkways are open every day from 8:00 am to dusk. There is a fee to enter the conservatory.
Botanical Gardens InfoEnd of Section
Nature Areas
Visiting Ann Arbor
Since the earliest days of recorded University of Michigan history (as early as 1861), the students and alumni have been referring to themselves as "Wolverines". While this moniker has proven successful for over a hundred years of intercollegiate sports, what is the reason for it? And moreover, what exactly is a wolverine?
The simplest reason for the wolverine nickname would be that the animal was abundant in Michigan for some time. However, all evidence points otherwise, as there has never been a verified trapping of a wolverine inside the state's borders, nor have skeletal remains of a wolverine been found in the 96,705 square miles that comprise Michigan. In fact, there had never been a verified sighting of a wild wolverine inside Michigan until February 2004.
Wolverine statue on North Campus
The truth is that there is no truly known reason why the Wolverine was chosen as a nickname. However, there are several theories.
The great Michigan football coach Fielding H. Yost had a theory for the nickname, which he wrote about in the Michigan Quarterly in 1944. Yost felt the reason for the nickname concerned the trading of wolverine pelts which occurred in Sault St. Marie for many years. The trading station served as an exchange between the Indians and other trappers and fur traders, who would eventually ship the products of to the Eastern United States. Because many of the furs were in fact wolverine pelts, traders may have referred to them as "Michigan wolverines", leading to the state nickname and ultimately to the University of Michigan representation.
Eight years later in the Michigan Quarterly Review of 1952, Albert H. Marckwardt presented another theory for the "wolverine" name. Marckwardt's reasoning is based when Michigan was first settled by the French in the late 1700s. The appetites of the French who made up a sizable portion of the settlers were judged to be gluttonous or "wolverine-like" and therefore, the title wolverines was set upon them.
The last theory surrounds the border dispute between Michigan and Ohio in 1803. While the two sides argued over proper setting of the state line, The Michiganders were called wolverines. It was unclear, however, whether the Michigan natives pinned the name upon themselves to show their tenacity and strength or whether Ohioans chose the name on account of the gluttonous habit of the wolverine. From then on, Michigan was labeled "the Wolverine state: and when the University of Michigan was founded, it simply adopted the nickname of the state it represented.
While wild wolverines exist in Oregon, Montana, Washington, Colorado, Wyoming, California, and parts of Canada, there are no wild wolverines in Michigan. All the wolverines necessary can be found on the fields, courts and rinks of Ann Arbor.
The wolverine, a member of the weasel family
Despite the wolverine's ferocity, Fielding Yost set out to find one in 1923, upon seeing Wisconsin carrying live badgers along with its football team. Yost's desire met with difficulty, as the coach had problems finding a dealer in live wolverines. After a letter to 68 trappers yielded no mascot for his team. Yost expanded his wish to any wolverine, alive or dead. Yost finally got word of a mounted wolverine belonging to Michigan Senator, William Alden Smith, and made a deal to secure the wolverine for his team. However, Yost went to Smith's home only to find that the specimen was actually a coyote.
Yost was able to obtain a mounted wolverine from the Hudson Bay Fur Company in the fall of 1924, but his quest for a live one continued. In 1927, 10 wolverines were obtained from Alaska and placed in the Detroit Zoo. On big football days, two of these wolverines were brought to Michigan Stadium and carried around in cages.
However, the animals grew larger and more ferocious, and as Yost states, " It was obvious that Michigan mascots had designs on the Michigan men toting them, and those designs were no means friendly." Therefore the practice of bringing wolverines into the stadium had to be discontinued after only one year. However, one of the wolverines was not returned to the zoo. Instead "Biff" was put in a cage at the University of Michigan Zoo where students were able to visit him at times. In 1937, the Chevrolet Motor Company donated a wolverine (as well as a cage to keep it in), to the University of Michigan. It was unclear how long this wolverine lasted, but it is known that no live wolverines have been in the stadium in the last half century.
For more information about the Wolverine please visit the Wolverine Foundation.
This information is from the Football Press Release Guide
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Wolverine Mascot
Visiting Ann Arbor
Come visit us in the Michigan Union or Pierpont Commons,
e-mail us at info@umich.edu, or give us a call at (734) 764-INFO (4636).We're open 19 hours a day to answer your questions.
