A city of southeast Michigan west of Detroit. A research and educational center, it is the seat of the University of Michigan (founded 1817). Population: 109,592. City (pop., 2000: 114,024), southeastern Michigan, U.S. Founded in 1824, it became an agricultural centre with the coming of the railroad in 1839. The University of Michigan, which moved there from Detroit in 1837, has played a major role in Ann Arbor's growth. Private industrial research and the university's institutes of science and technology make the city a major Midwest centre for space and nuclear research