A historical marker along Huron Street in downtown Ann Arbor where a 10-story high-rise is proposed on June 23, 2025.

ANN ARBOR, MI — There’s a new plaque downtown clarifying the story of Ann Arbor’s naming, suggesting it isn’t as romantic as another historical marker would have some believe.

Ann Arbor Historical Foundation President Patricia Austin appeared before City Council Monday night, July 7, to explain it, saying she hopes it sets the record straight.

“It’s sort of a finish to the bicentennial,” Austin said, referring to the city’s 2024 yearlong celebration of the 200th anniversary of the town’s founding in 1824.

As the city was celebrating its milestone birthday last year, Austin and fellow historians Grace Shackman and Susan Wineberg were discussing a way to “correct the misinformation regarding how our beloved city was named,” Austin said.

They took issue with a 1924 historical marker in front of the Arbor Atrium building at 315 W. Huron St. commemorating the town’s founding, specifically the depiction of the town founders’ wives who shared the name Ann sitting in an arbor.

“Near this spot stood a rustic arbor covered with wild grape vines,” the century-old text reads. “Here Ann Allen and Ann Rumsey, the wives of John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey, met frequently for rest and recreation. The arbor was called Anns’ Arbor and from it in honor of these pioneer women, the city received its name.”

Ann Arbor historians challenge this 1924 depiction of the town founders' wives sitting in a grape arbor, as seen on June 23, 2025.

The new plaque under it, set in place by the Historical Foundation on June 23, tells how John Allen of Virginia and Elisha Walker Rumsey of New York registered the name “Ann Arbour” at a land office in Detroit on May 25, 1824.

The “Ann” portion was named after their wives, the plaque states, noting Rumsey’s wife’s full name was Mary Ann Rumsey, and the “Arbour” was later changed to “Arbor” and referred to the groves of oak trees in the area that formed nature arbors.

“The text from the Centennial plaque of 1924 paints a more romantic explanation of the name based on an 1850s story in Godey’s Lady’s Book magazine,” the new plaque states. “In 1962, after more research by Russell E. Bidlack, a pamphlet titled Naming of Ann Arbor set the record straight.”

Historical markers along Huron Street in downtown Ann Arbor where a 10-story high-rise is proposed on June 23, 2025.

Addressing council Monday night, Austin called the description of the two Anns sitting in a grape arbor an “apocryphal legend,” saying they certainly were not sitting in a grape arbor together at the time of the town’s founding in May 1824.

Bidlack, the late historian and University of Michigan School of Library Science dean, decades ago visited Ann Allen’s descendants in Staunton, Virginia, finding she didn’t join her husband in Ann Arbor until the fall of 1824. So, while it’s possible the two Anns later sat together in an arbor of some kind at some point, they hadn’t when the town was named.

Bidlack wrote a book about Ann Allen, dubbing her “Ann Arbor’s First Lady.” Based on his research, he concluded the town was named after her, along with Ann Street.

Austin said she and her fellow historians who worked on the new plaque reached out to Jeff Crockett, chair of the city’s bicentennial history subcommittee, and worked with that committee under his leadership. She also thanked Christine Crockett, president of the Historical Foundation at the time, and the foundation board, which donated $3,000 for the plaque.

“Now you know the rest of the story,” Austin told the mayor and council, joking she wanted to make sure they all know the history in case they’re ever questioned on “Jeopardy.”