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Click here for a view of one of Ann Arbor's early water mills.
As more settlers began arriving, Ann Arbor grew as a farming center. In just a few years, the population grew from 150 to over 2,000. Stores, taverns, businesses filled the streets and grist mills for grinding grain, tanneries for curing leather, and breweries lined the Huron River. Many immigrants came from New York, Virginia, and New England, but others immigrated from Germany and Ireland. Ann Allen described some of these immigrants in a one of her first letters home. (For more information on the German community of Ann Arbor, visit the German-American Topic).
The 1836 poster above lists a variety of features the town's founders thought prospective citizens would find attractive. In addition to the new road, there was a railroad under construction, increasing agricultural and manufacturing opportunities, and even cultural events such as literary and debate societies to appeal to different kinds of people. But perhaps the most important development for prospective settlers was the decision to make Ann Arbor the site for the state university. The university guaranteed the continued growth of the city by ensuring the arrival of professors and students who would require the goods and services those living in Ann Arbor could provide.
Writing in 1831, Lucy Morgan observed that "emigrants are coming in so fast that people charge what rent they please." People were lured to Ann Arbor by the enthusiastic reports received from family and friends living in the frontier town. "Ann Arbor has sprung up as if by enchantment. Everything is excitement and energy and go ahead" noted Clark Caleb, a lawyer living in Ann Arbor in 1841. Many residents would have agreed and on April 4, 1851, the Michigan state legislature established Ann Arbor as a city.