Depot Town was the original settlement in the area. Started as Woodruff's Grove, the town moved to the present area in 1925 and decided on the name Ypsilanti after the hero of the Greek War for independance, Demetrius Ypsilanti. Several factors contributed to the rise and fall of this area of Ypsilanti. For more, check out the history at www.depottown.org/history.htm Submitted by: Rodney Belcher

Ypsilanti did indeed start as Woodruff's Grove. The location, which todays has nothing but a historical marker
(http://www.ypsilantihistoricalsociety.org/markers/marker1.html), is at the intersection of Grove Street and Prospect Avenue, just eeast of the Visteon plant and just north of Interstate 94. This site is approx 1 mile SE of downtown Ypsilanti, and almost 2 miles due south of Depottown. The center of gravity for settlement kept changing, The first settlement in 1823 was where it was because of a convenient ford on the Huron River. When the US Gov't plotted the new Detroit/Chicago road a mile north in 1825, a new settlement sprouted up (today's downtown Ypsilanti). Later, in 1838, when the first train arrived, a rival commercial section grew up adjacent to the railroad tracks almost one mile north of the previous downtown. A good, if spotty, history of Depot Town can indeed be found at http://www.depottown.org/history.htm. Another good set of references can be found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depot_Town Whether or not Depot Town should be in a section on ghost towns is a judgement call. I can think of at least two other towns more deserving of the name in the general vicinity here: Delhi, and Geddes, both towns on the Huron River that disappeared.
Sincerely,

Len in Ann Arbor