Hotels in Ypsilanti, Michigan

A little about Ypsilanti...

Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti.

The geographic grid centre of Ypsilanti is the intersection of the Huron River and Michigan Avenue, the latter which connects downtown Detroit, Michigan, with downtown Chicago, Illinois, and is part of U.S. Route 12.

A college town, Ypsilanti is home to Eastern Michigan University, founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School. Today, EMU has 19,000 undergraduate and over 4800 graduate students. The college is vital to the commercial landscape of the city and keeps the median age in Ypsilanti relatively low.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.5 mi² (11.7 km²). 4.4 mi² (11.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 mi² (0.3 km²) is water. The total area is 2.45% water. The Huron River flows through both the City of Ypsilanti and the Charter Township of Ypsilanti.

Ypsilanti is located at 42.24° N 83.62° W, in the western reaches of the Detroit/Windsor metropolitan area. Suburban development between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, via Washtenaw Avenue and Packard Road, has been unbroken since the late 1960s.

Ypsilanti has the third largest historic district in the state of Michigan, behind only the much larger cities of Detroit and Grand Rapids. The historic district includes both downtown Ypsilanti, along Michigan Avenue, and the Depot Town area adjacent to Frog Island Park and Riverside Park, which features many specialty shops, bars and grills, and a farmers' market.

Other sites of interest include:
Automotive Heritage Museum
First United Methodist Church
Highland Cemetery
Michigan Firehouse Museum
Pease Auditorium (on the campus of Eastern Michigan University)
Starkweather Hall, built in 1896 as a chapel (currently housing EMU Graduate School)
Yankee Air Museum
Ypsilanti Historical Museum (housed in a Victorian-style mansion built in 1860)
Ypsilanti Water Tower (built in 1890)
Willow Run Airport - located in neighboring Wayne County, but home to Ypsilanti's weather station

Since 1979, the city has become known for summer festivals in the part of the city called "Depot Town," which is adjacent to Riverside Park and Frog Island Park. Festivals include the annual Heritage Festival, the Elvis Festival, the Orphan Car Festival, the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival, and a Latino festival.

Overlooking Riverside Park is the non-profit Riverside Arts Center. Established in 1994 through the efforts of the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority and several public sprited citizens, the Riverside boasts a 115 seat black box theatre, a sizeable art gallery and some meeting rooms and offices. In 2006 the adjacent DTE building was renovated with "Cool Cities" money and is in the process of being incorporated into the center's activities.

The Ypsilanti Youth Theatre group works as a guild by having area local youth in grades 3 to 12 collaborate and work with various local theatre professionals as well as learning from one another. YYT offers a space within which young people can create and participate in quality performance pieces and explore a variety of drama and theatre techniques.