The University of Michigan was founded in 1817, one of the first public universities in the nation. The University of Michigan was initially established on 1,920 acres of land ceded by the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi people for a college at Detroit. The school moved from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1837, when Ann Arbor was just 13 years old. In its first year in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan had just two professors and seven students. There were more regents (19) than faculty and students combined.

The new university did not have a president; the faculty elected a presiding officer each year from among their own ranks. By 1866, the University of Michigan became the largest university in the country, with 1,205 enrolled students. ...