HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM

EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

Eastern Michigan University and its Setting:

Eastern Michigan University is locationally well situated to offer a degree program in historic preservation. It is located in the rural-urban fringe of metropolitan Detroit in Ypsilanti, Michigan, a community of some 25,000, founded in l823. Eastern Michigan University was established in l849 and the campus possesses buildings of historic interest, several of which are listed on the National Register. Ypsilanti and nearby Ann Arbor abound in structures and districts of historic significance. Ypsilanti has one of the largest central city historic districts in the country, which serves as the locus of the annual Ypsilanti Heritage Festival during the third week of August. Downtown Ypsilanti is a participant in the Main Street Program sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and at one time the Main Street Manager was a graduate of the Historic Preservation Program. The Ypsilanti Water Tower (l889), adjacent to the campus, was recognized in l975 as a National Water Landmark by the American Water Works Association, and more recently has been listed on the National Register. In Ann Arbor, the Old West Side was one of the first residential neighborhoods listed as a National Register historic district. The City of Ann Arbor also owns Cobblestone Farm, a historic museum with a mode of architectural construction characteristic of Upstate New York. From time to time a program graduate student has been hired as the live-in caretaker. In the larger setting, the Edison Institute (Greenfield Village-Henry Ford Museum), Cranbrook Institute, the towns of Marshall and Romeo -- both architectural gems, the several Detroit historic districts, and the Heritage Hill Historic District in Grand Rapids are not far afield and provide suitable sites for field trips. Also within easy reach of Ypsilanti are many small country towns with surviving nineteenth century main streets and residential cores. The State Historic Preservation Office (The Michigan Center for History) in Lansing, where some of our students intern, is also just over an hour's drive