Ypsilanti

Located at the juncture of old Indian trails and the Huron River, this area was the camping and burying ground for several Indian tribes. In 1809 Gabriel Godfroy established an Indian trading post on the west bank of the Huron, which he maintained for about ten years. Benjamin Woodruff and companions came up the river by boat in 1823 and settled one mile east of here at Woodruff’s Grove. In 1825 a town was platted by Judge Augustus B. Woodward of Detroit and two local men, William Harwood and John Stewart. Situated on both sides of the Huron where the famous Chicago Road (now U.S. 12) crossed the river, the town was named Ypsilanti in honor of the Greek war hero, Demetrius Ypsilanti. The home of Eastern Michigan University, the oldest state teachers college west of Albany, Ypsilanti is also the site of one of the state’s very first publicly supported secondary schools. In World War II the Willow Run plant was erected to build B-24 bombers, which were vitally important to the war effort. True to its heritage, Ypsilanti has grown in the mainstream of commerce, industry, and education.