Building Ann Arbor's Central Park
Today​
As part of passage by a 2018 citizen-initiated ballot proposal, the voters of Ann Arbor amended the city’s charter (page 10) to designate all of the publicly-owned properties on the downtown block bordered by Fifth Avenue, William Street, Division Street and Liberty Street to serve as a central park and civic commons in perpetuity. Combined, these properties make up what is known as the Center of the City. They include:
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Kempf House Museum
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A historic home and museum located along Division street, having been owned by the city for many years and overseen by a special council within the city’s Parks Department.
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Liberty Plaza
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A recessed plaza on the corner of Liberty and Division streets that resides on the former site of another historical home.
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The Library Parking Lot and Library Lane
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Two surface properties located on top of the underground Library Lane parking structure, currently used as a parking lot and private entry/exit ‘lane’ for one of the points of entry/exit to the underground parking structure.
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City Council, following a series of task force report recommendations, established a citizen advisory council, known as the Council of the Commons, to make recommendations on how to utilize and develop the Center of the City. The final recommendations of the Council of the Commons included a series of process steps to enable activation of the Center of the City in both the shorter and longer-term, and to proceed with a planning study for redevelopment in partnership with the Library Green Conservancy.
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History​
A central town center around the area of the Center of the City is almost as old as the city itself, with an outdoor lawn plotted on Jailhouse Square just across 5th Avenue in 1836. However, this concept was accelerated dramatically when the current Washtenaw County Courthouse was built in the 1950’s.
The Courthouse Years
Washtenaw County has had three courthouse buildings in downtown Ann Arbor over the past 200 years - at the corner of Huron and Main streets. Built in 1834, the first building was a simple structure to serve a small but growing community. The second, a much more dramatic and elaborate building, was built in 1877. Both had beautiful public green space surrounding them; space that was used frequently for political rallies, public events, and everyday community use.
In 1955, the current Washtenaw County Courthouse was built on the grounds of this green space, designed intentionally to allow the old building to be utilized during construction of the new one. The prior building was razed for use by a parking lot, and all the original Courthouse Square green space - used each day by residents of the town since 1834 - became covered by the new building.
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It was at this point that Ann Arbor lost its town square.
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Calls to Action Post - 1955
With the elimination of the courthouse lawn, combined with overall growth of the central downtown, numerous reports began calling for a new central square to serve the town.
In order to better connect the Main Street corridor with the State Street corridor, the 1962 Guide to Action planning report noted the need for a central green space at the corner of 5th Avenue and Liberty Street.
Then in 1988, City Council launched a Library Block study committee. This effort produced a consultant paper written by Carl Lukenbach & Associates recommending the best use use of this publicly-owned land. Lukenbach & Associates recommended that a generous town squre green be placed on the area now known as the Library Lot, with pedestrian pathways traversing the block and a reorientation of existing uses to face inward toward the new open space.
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In 2005, the Calthorpe Vision Plan for Downtown, commissioned by the City, stated another key recommendation: “Encourage the creation of new public spaces within the Downtown and rehabilitation of existing spaces: Pursue and design a Town Square or central civic area that incorporates an outdoor meeting Place.…”
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And since 2013, the Library Green Conservancy has been commissioning reports to further discussion on this issue.
(click on images to read reports)
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These efforts culminated in the 2018 citizen-initiated ballot initiative to amend the City Charter, a historic opportunity to recreate a lasting town square by the creation of the "Center of the City."
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1834 Courthouse Image courtesy of Washtenaw County Historical Society, 1877 Courthouse image courtesy of Ann Arbor District Library, 1955 Courthouse courtesy of Wikipedia.