Habitat and History: 415 W. Washington

Thanks to Treeline volunteer Nia Spondberg for authoring this post on the pre- and post-industrial history of our Test Trail site. Written during the pandemic, its publication has been delayed by staff overwhelm and the fatal crash of our first website. Now that we are back online, we’re proud and grateful to share this first installment of Nia’s research and reportage on this blighted site with a bright future.

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Located beside the railroad tracks on the western edge of downtown Ann Arbor in both the floodway and floodplain of Allen’s Creek, the lot at 415 West Washington is recognized today as a blighted, historical industrial complex.  But back in 1824 when European settlers arrived in Ann Arbor, the landscape at 415 West Washington was riparian, with native plants that thrived in the moist streamside soils of Allen Creek, controlled erosion, and helped filter and keep water clean.  From what we can tell, the larger landscape surrounding this area was an oak savanna, a vast grassland dotted with widely scattered trees. Though appearing natural, that oak savanna landscape was actually the creation of Native Americans* who set fire to the land every few years to encourage fresh growth that attracted the game they hunted.

Gradually, as European descendants settled and industrialized the land the native ecosystem gave way to one of very little biodiversity, and an increasing number of invasive plants.  By the 1850’s and 1860’s Ann Arbor was a burgeoning town of white settlers, replete with expanding neighborhoods on its west side and a growing mix of manufacturing, processing, and other industrial businesses located along Allen’s Creek. In 1878 the Ann Arbor Railroad laid its tracks beside Allen’s Creek, introducing yet another element of industrialization to the corridor. The lot at 415 West Washington was squarely in this industrial district. 

How the land at 415 West Washington was used during Ann Arbor’s first settled century is not known, but by 1919 the lot at 415 West Washington served as a storage yard for the Washtenaw County Road Commission and was home to a simple concrete structure with offices above a garage. Several additional structures, including a workshop and second garage, were added to the site over the next decade.

In 1926 as part of a major public works project to mitigate spring flooding and address public health concerns relating to sewage contamination and foul smells, Allen Creek was channeled into a new large, underground pipe and buried beneath the city, including directly underneath 415 West Washington. Allen Creek still flows beneath Ann Arbor today, originating near Pioneer High School and spilling out into the Huron River just below Argo Dam.

By 1965 the City of Ann Arbor owned the lot at 415 West Washington. The city used the upstairs offices to house various city departments including recreation, forestry, parking, and traffic engineering. The lower-level garages housed city vehicles and equipment as well as the city’s sign shop.

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The Future of 415 West Washington

In 2007 the City moved its operations elsewhere and the site has been largely dormant since then. Open portions of the lot are presently used for parking.  Owing to the lack of use in recent years, “wildness” has begun to creep back into the lot: native plants (plants that were here before Europeans settled in Michigan in the 1700s) are re-establishing themselves, but not without competition from invasive species (species that are not native and whose introduction causes harm, or is likely to cause harm, to the environment, economy, or human health).

An ongoing and evolving conversation regarding the future of the 415 West Washington site involves multiple stakeholders. Various ideas over the years – ranging from affordable housing to mixed-use development – have been proposed.

As visions for the future of 415 West Washington continue to take shape, an increasing number of voices are expressing hope that this blighted lot can be reclaimed as part of a new, greener downtown, marked by restored native communities (including habitat for wildlife including mammals, amphibians,  birds, and insects), improved ecological functions (such as cleansing stormwater runoff and floodwater management for Allen Creek’s cyclical floods), and enhanced cultural use (such as the Treeline trail).

Pilot efforts to re-establish a healthy native ecosystem are currently being considered** and would likely involve in this order: (1) removing invasives (such as Tree of Heaven/Ailanthus altissima and Buckthorn/Rhamnus cathartica) and controlling their re-growth; (2) doing basic soil amendment to support initial native plantings; (3) planting native grasses (such as Little Bluestem/Schizachyrium scoparium and Prairie Dropseed/Sporobolus heterolepis) to help stabilize soil and remediate poor soil conditions; and (4) introducing pollinator plants and native woody plants.

Sited in the floodplain corridor that remains prone to Allen Creek’s cyclical spills and therefore has limited use possibilities, 415 West Washington holds significant potential to become the keystone parcel in a new urban greenway that connects people, wildlife, and communities from downtown Ann Arbor to the Huron River and locations far beyond via the connecting Border to Border and Iron Belle trails.

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*See the City of Ann Arbor Parks Department land acknowledgement on their webpage, “Early History.” There they honor the Anishinabae people of the Three Fires Confederacy –(Ojibwe, Ottawa & Potawatomi) and the Wyandot as the indigenous inhabitants of our area.

**These pilot efforts began in fall 2021 and have continued to unfold largely as Nia described.