A history of Ypsilanti,
since 1823
Postcards, papers and photographs of Ypsilanti from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Originally a trading post established in 1809 by a French-Canadian fur trader from Montreal, a permanent settlement was established on the east side of the Huron River in 1823 by Major Thomas Woodruff. It was incorporated into the Territory of Michigan as the village Woodruff's Grove. A separate community a short distance away on the west side of the river was established in 1825 under the name "Ypsilanti", after Demetrios Ypsilantis, a hero in the Greek War of Independence. Woodruff's Grove changed its name to Ypsilanti in 1829, the year its namesake effectively won the war for Greek Independence at the Battle of Petra, with the two communities eventually merging. A bust of Demetrios Ypsilantis by Greek sculptor Christopher Nastos stands between a Greek and a US flag at the base of the landmark Ypsilanti Water Tower.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Ypsilanti’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewMichigan state normal school, Yps…, 1878: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Ypsilanti, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Michigan state normal school, Ypsilanti - lith. by James McCoy, Ypsilanti, Mich (1878) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (3) and the Library of Congress (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.