The Ypsi-Ann Trolley - Maybe What's Old Can Be Made New Again!

While doing some research on Washtenaw County, Michigan, for my next book - The Water Tower - I came across an interesting tidbit of history about the Ypsi-Ann trolley which linked the campus of Michigan State Normal College in Ypsilanti with the campus of The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor some ten miles away.

This early mass transit service was popular and served approximately 600 people a day. Despite frequent breakdowns and delays in its schedule, the line got plenty of use from U of M students, who were mostly young men - and from the Normal College students, who were mostly young women. It was said that on the weekends, a rough parity was achieved.

Established in 1890, this extension from Detroit of the longer Interurban line was steam powered and cost only a dime to ride. The engine was designed to look like a street car on wheels, so it wouldn't scare the horses as easily. It could haul as many as four trailers. The service went electric in 1896 and continued to operate until 1928. As the trolley made the horse obsolete, the car made the trolley obsolete.

Today, anyone who drives down Washtenaw Avenue can attest to the terrible traffic between the two cities. Too bad an old idea can't be made new again - or maybe it can. What about a solar powered mono-rail with electromagnets or some hybrid energy backup built over existing right of ways?

America needs new technology. Why shouldn't Washtenaw County be the developmental center for a new age in transportation. Ann Arbor has the technical resources and Ypsi has the manufacturing facilities and the know how. Create the new technology, build it in the old Ford plant, and ship it out to the world.

This could be the hottest commercial venture for the area since the development of the Ypsilanti union suit with the flap in the back - a well-known and much sought after product across America in the nineteenth century. Look to the future.