The Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Street Railway, also called the Ypsi-Ann, was a railroad that connected cities in southeastern Michigan. It was the first railroad of its kind in the state.

History

In October 1889, the city of Ypsilanti, Michigan, invited the Haines Company from Kinderhook, New York, to build a street railway within the city. The following summer, Charles Delemere Haines arrived in Ypsilanti and concluded that the city's population was too small to support its own streetcar system. However, he believed that a railway connecting Ypsilanti to the nearby city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, would be successful. Haines proposed a 7.5-mile line that would run from Ypsilanti’s downtown to the edge of Ann Arbor. He predicted the system would carry 500 passengers daily. At that time, trains operated by the Michigan Central Railroad between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti carried only 40 passengers daily.

The company was officially formed on August 30, 1890. The route ran west from Ypsilanti along Cross Street/Packard Road to the edge of Ann Arbor, near Wells Street. Construction began on October 22, and the line was completed on December 19. The company asked the Ann Arbor Common Council for permission to extend the line into the city, but the request was denied. The reason was that the original power source for the line was a loud steam locomotive, which had been covered with boards to look like a wood-sided wagon, to reduce its noise and avoid startling horses. Ann Arbor residents opposed the loud steam engine traveling through their streets. To resolve this, the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Railway (AA&YRy) made an agreement with the Ann Arbor Street Railway. Their electric cars would meet the disguised steam locomotive at the city limits and exchange passengers.

Regular service began on January 9, 1891, using steam power. On January 26, the owners of the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor line purchased the Ann Arbor Street Railway, but the two companies continued to operate separately. The line carried 600 passengers daily, exceeding predictions. The improved connection between the two cities had social effects: students attending the University of Michigan and Normal College interacted more than before. Years later, a former Normal student recalled:

"Trains operated every ninety minutes, at an average speed of eight miles per hour. The starting fare was ten cents."

On August 26, 1896, the two companies officially merged to form the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Electric Railway (AA&YRy). By November 1896, the route between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti was fully electrified, creating a direct route between the two cities without needing to change trains. The Ypsilanti depot was located on Washington Street, just north of today’s Michigan Avenue (then called Congress Street). The Ann Arbor depot was eventually moved to West Huron and Ashley Streets. On May 11, 1898, the Detroit, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor Railway (DY&AA) purchased the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Railway, allowing interurbans to operate from Detroit to Ann Arbor, a 40-mile route.

Under various names, interurbans continued to operate on the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor tracks, eventually coming under the control of the Detroit, Jackson and Chicago Railway. The system finally shut down in 1929 due to strong competition from buses and automobiles. Ann Arbor’s local trolley line had already switched from streetcars to buses in January 1925.

Legacy

The Ypsi-Ann's downtown Ann Arbor terminal building was replaced by the Ann Arbor Greyhound depot in 1940. It remained there until a hotel was built on the site in 2015. A small building at the SW corner of Packard and Platt in the Mallets Creek Settlement in Pittsfield Township later served as the municipal office for the short-lived City of East Ann Arbor from 1947 through 1956.

For many years after 1942, people believed all of Ypsilanti's tracks had been removed. However, in 2004, workers repairing Washington Street discovered a section of rails buried under the pavement.

The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, the current public transit operator in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, runs 4 bus routes from downtown Ann Arbor to downtown Ypsilanti. The interurban's route is similar to Route 5, which was the third most used bus route in the system in 2023.