Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

North Ann Arbor is sometimes described as a “suburb in the city” because it features the sprawling natural beauty of the Huron River Valley, the quieter University of Michigan North Campus and many newer neighborhoods that have sprung up in the past two decades to accommodate its rapid growth.

Freeways M-14 and US-23 offer easy access to the north side. Plymouth Road, which includes the area’s main commercial district, is an efficient route from downtown. Those who travel to the northeast side via Huron Parkway enjoy a tree-lined boulevard and views of Huron Hills Golf Course and the Huron River.

Housing options are diverse here and range from single-family ranch homes in the Lower Town neighborhood — which includes some of the oldest houses in the city — to custom-built mansions on cul-de-sacs in parts of the northeast. Duplexes, apartments, townhouses, cooperative housing, student family housing and dormitories also serve the area’s 33,000 residents, who have a median age of 32.

Four public elementary schools serve families in this area: Northside, Logan, Thurston, and King. Clague Middle School and Huron High also are in the north side area.

Nature abounds in the north where some 50 city parks — more than any other area of Ann Arbor — dot the landscape. Most are integrated into neighborhoods, such as Sugarbush Park in the Orchard Hills-Maplewood area, where wooded paths run behind back yards. Gallup Park, along the Huron River, is the city’s most popular and attracts joggers, bicyclists, and canoeists on warmer days. A chain of riverside parks winds westward toward Bird Hills, the city’s largest park at 150 acres, which offers hiking trails over hilly terrain.

Across Barton Pond from Bird Hills is Barton Hills Village, an enclave of 140 homes formed in the 1920s. Valued into the millions, many of the houses are tucked away on secluded wooded lots along winding roads with a country club and private golf course.

Ann Arbor’s public Leslie Park Golf Course, to the east of Barton Hills, is the No. 1 municipal golf course in Michigan, according to Golf Digest. Another northside attraction garnering praise is the Ann Arbor District Library’s Traverwood branch, built into the hillside in 2008. It was hailed by the American Institute of Architects for its modern design and low impact on the environment.

Ann Arbor’s north side also is a respected hub of scientific research. In 2009,
U-M purchased Pfizer’s former pharmaceutical research facilities to create the North Campus Research Complex. The EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Testing Laboratory, Toyota Technical Center, and the world headquarters for NSF International also are on this side of town.

Domino’s Pizza world headquarters is inside the world’s longest linear office building on the northeast side. Domino’s Farms, like much of this side of Ann Arbor, is surrounded by green space and feels more like countryside than cityscape.

Editor's Note: This biography was last updated in February 2010.

Contact the Community Team at community@annarbor.com.