Ford Lake (Michigan)

Ypsilanti Charter Township is a charter township of Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 53,362 at the 2010 census. The city of Ypsilanti is mostly surrounded by the township, but the two are administered autonomously.

The Ford Lake Dam (originally known as the Rawsonville Dam and sometimes referred to as the Hydro Dam) is an earthen, multi-arch hydroelectric gravity dam and powerhouse crossing the Huron River in Ypsilanti Charter Township in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The dam was constructed in 1931–1932 and created the Ford Lake reservoir at 975 acres (395 ha).The Ford Lake Dam is 6.5 miles (10.5 km) downstream from the Peninsular Paper Dam and 7.9 miles (12.7 km) upstream from the French Landing Dam and Powerhouse. The dam is approximately 36 miles (58 km) from the Huron River's mouth at Lake Erie.The dam and powerhouse were commissioned by Henry Ford in order to supply electricity to the nearby Ypsilanti Ford Motor Plant. In 1969, the dam and surrounding land area were given to the city of Ypsilanti and surrounding township. The township took full ownership in 1990 and maintains control of the facility. The dam has a maximum spillway capacity of 28,000 cubic feet per second (793 m³/s). The south embankment of the dam contains an emergency fuse plug spillway. The area surrounding the dam's output is organized into two parks operated by the township. The North Hydro Park is part of the Border-to-Border Trail. Along with the adjacent, undeveloped South Hydro Park, the area is popular for shore fishermen and canoeing/kayaking along the Huron River to Belleville Lake.

The Ypsilanti District Library is a library in Washtenaw County, Michigan, serving Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, and Superior Township. The library has been in operation since 1868, and today provides services with three branches and a bookmobile.

Willow Run Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory near Ypsilanti, Michigan, located at 2625 Tyler Road, in the Willow Run manufacturing complex. Willow Run Assembly consisted of an assembly plant of 2.3 million square feet, another building that was known in later years as "Willow Run Company Vehicle Operations", covering 23,000 square feet on 22 acres of land, and perhaps other parcels. Willow Run Assembly was to the south of the former Willow Run Transmission, the site of the bomber plant built by Ford in 1941.Production of automobiles began at Willow Run in 1959 with the Chevrolet Corvair; Willow Run also built the rear-wheel-drive General Motors (RWD) Chevrolet Nova (1962-1979), Pontiac Ventura, Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, Buick Apollo, and Buick Skylark, the front-wheel-drive, the X-cars Oldsmobile Omega, and Buick Skylark (1980-1985), the front-wheel-drive H body Oldsmobile 88 and Pontiac Bonneville, and the B-body Chevrolet Caprice sedan and wagon, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon, and the Buick Roadmaster Estate wagon. The Chevrolet Corvair was assembled at Willow Run during the car's entire 10-year production run. On May 14, 1969, the media was invited to Willow Run as the last Corvair came down the line; a departure from GM's policy of not permitting reporters to visit their manufacturing facilities. (this should all be re-written for more accuracy.) In 1968, General Motors began reorganizing its body and assembly operations into the GM Assembly Division (GMAD). GMAD required 16 years to completely absorb Fisher Body's operations, and Fisher would manufacture bodies at Willow Run until the 1970s. Assembly operations at Willow Run ended in July 1993 after reduced demand for the full-size B-bodies. Operations were transferred to the Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas. What was the main plant at Willow Run Assembly had by 2010 become a giant warehouse, the "Willow Run Business Center", part of which was leased to GM for use as a parts distribution facility.Willow Run Company Vehicle Operations became part of the abandoned GM properties managed by the RACER Trust in March 2011; in April 2013, RACER sold the Company Vehicle Operations facility to International Turbine Industries, an engine maintenance and repair company headquartered across Tyler Road from the former assembly plant.

Rawsonville is an unincorporated community on the boundary of Washtenaw and Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The historic community of Rawsonville lies mostly under Belleville Lake, which is an artificial reservoir created in 1925 when the Eastern Michigan Edison Company built the French Landing Dam and Powerhouse along the Huron River.Rawsonville was dedicated as a Michigan State Historic Site on October 27, 1983.

Prospect Park is a 9.5 acre park in the northeast corner of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and is the oldest park in Ypsilanti. This park, which was originally a cemetery, is the home of a retired coastal defense cannon from Maine, and is currently the home of the restored Luna Lake. The park is one block from Ypsilanti's historic Depot Town, where the YpsiFest and many car shows are hosted in the summer.

Haab's Restaurant was located in downtown Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 18 West Michigan Avenue. The restaurant had a bar area with an 30-foot-long (9.1 m) African mahagony bar and overhead ceiling fans, and two dining rooms. The decor was 19th-century with a pressed tin ceiling and features Tiffany lamps and heirlooms from the Haab family. It had seating for 130. The menu entrées were mainly steaks, chops, fried chicken and seafood, with the London broil being the most popular menu item. The front entrance displayed an article in Monthly Detroit about Detroit area steakhouses in which the author named Haab's as his favorite

The American Center for Mobility (ACM) is a 500-acre (200 ha) vehicular automation research center and federally designated automated vehicle proving ground located in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan.

The Ypsilanti Historic District is a historic district located along several blocks on each side of the Huron River in the center of Ypsilanti, Michigan. The original portion of the district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978; additions to the district were nationally listed in 1989.

Sidetrack Bar and Grill is a restaurant on the east end of Depot Town in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 56 East Cross Street. It is just down the road from Eastern Michigan University and is a popular hangout for students and faculty. Linda French, who has owned the restaurant since 1980, named it after “its unique location alongside the main railroad line from Detroit to Chicago.” The location has served as a restaurant, under different names, as far back as 1850. It has a large beer selection as well as liquor and wine and has won awards for its food.

Willow Run High School was a public high school in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. It was the high school of the Willow Run School District prior to the 2013 merger with the Ypsilanti Community Schools (YCS). The "Flyers" were the school mascot.After the merger, Ypsilanti Community High School, located in the former Ypsilanti High School building, became the consolidated comprehensive high school for the new YCS district.The Willow Run building now houses the Character and Restorative Education (CARE) program of YCS.

Depot Town is a commercial area, with some residences above storefronts, in Ypsilanti, Michigan's historic district. Depot Town proper consists of East Cross Street from the Huron River to North River Street, and a small area on the 300-block of North River Street. However, several blocks in the surrounding area are also commonly referred to as part of Depot Town. These areas include Riverside Park, Frog Island Park (both of which are on the Huron River), and River Street extending north and south for several blocks. First established in the late 1830s, most of the buildings standing today were constructed between 1850 and 1880. Over the years, Depot Town has included hotels, an Underground Railroad station, an American Civil War barracks, and a building that has housed a bar and restaurant continuously for more than 150 years, switching to soft drinks during Prohibition. Today the area is dominated by restaurants and stores. Depot Town also hosts several large summer festivals each year, as well as weekly bike nights and cruise nights.