Ypsilanti, MI: Ypsilanti: Historic City with Revolutionary Spirit - Commercial & Residential in Brighton, Michigan

Ypsilanti's historic Depot Town district preserves Michigan's most intact 19th-century railroad commercial district, with original buildings now housing brewpubs and boutiques along Michigan's oldest operating passenger rail corridor. The city houses Eastern Michigan University's historic campus, featuring the oldest continuously operating normal school (teacher training institution) west of the Allegheny Mountains. Ypsilanti's distinctive water tower—a limestone structure completed in 1890—consistently ranks among America's most unusually shaped municipal water facilities, drawing architecture tourists and photography enthusiasts. The city hosts Michigan's oldest continuously operating automotive heritage museum at the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum, preserving the legacy of locally-produced Tucker, Kaiser-Frazer, and Hudson vehicles. Ypsilanti's vibrant arts community transformed the city into Michigan's most accessible creative incubator, with affordable studio spaces attracting artists priced out of other communities to reinvigorate historic neighborhoods with public installations and community-engaged art projects.