Government: Into the 20th Century| In the 1900s, Ann Arbor began to experience a population boom. The University of Michigan was the largest in nation and business began to sprout in the downtown area. |
| In 1921 a new city charter was adopted. The charter did not propose major changes to the city government. It did want to reduce the number of members on the city council, but that portion of the charter was revised before it was passed. The charter did allow the city to expand its limits, and made an allowance for an additional ward in 1924. |
| TThe city had to meet the residents' demands in legislation. Community expansion required new means of governing the people. Ann Arbor grew like a giant anomaly in the early 20th century. In fact, the University saw elevated numbers of student enrollment. The University's student body was increasing in size, and then-President James Angell worked to meet these challenges, making more progress in the University more than any one else had ever tried to do before him. The total expansion cost a quarter of a million dollars when completed. |
| One of the main social issues at the time was that of alcohol and students' drinking. Several temperance groups were formed like the Juvenile Temperance Union. Their goal was "to take little ones as soon as they are able to understand and enroll them in the temperance army." |
| Social groups like the temperance unions put a lot of pressure on the government until the legislature allowed a state-wide vote prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol. The vote did not pass, but the margin in Ann Arbor was very close. |
| The strong feeling about prohibition and alcohol allowed the Democratic Party to sieze the office of mayor. Ann Arbor had been a predominantly Republican area, but since the Republicans were split on the issue of prohibition, this division within the party paved the path for Democrats to move in. |
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