Chelsea

[ZachariahDaMan]

I figured this would be a better place then anywhere else to talk about Chelsea, a city of 4,398. Yesterday I went there for the first time and was surprised at how nice downtown was. I would of taken more pictures but I didn't have any room left on my memory card because of how many I had taken in Dexter. I wish I hadn't taken as many in Dexter so I would of had more left Chelsea, Chelsea's downtown was bigger and had better architecture. I liked the houses near downtown more in Chelsea also. I will have to make a trip back there soon. If you didn't already know, actor Jeff Daniels is from Chelsea. Your thoughts on it?

I hate to tell you guys but I'm starting to really love small towns that are more country on the outskirts of the city. I use to really want to live in a big city when I was older (I'm 17) like Detroit or Ann Arbor. But it's changing now, now I'd really love to live somewhere like Chelsea or Howell. Where it doesn't take long to walk all through downtown, you don't see homeless people. Would you guys ever want to live in nice smaller towns like the ones I just listed?

I found a website about places to visit while in Chelsea and I really enjoy going to the smaller museums that pretty much all towns have. They have the Chelsea Historical Socity Museum and the Waterloo Farm Museum which has exhibits on 19th-century farming life. They have a couple farmers markets and if you like to read then there is a nice two-story book store downtown.

I was surprised to see Jiffy here, I read online that you can arrange to have a tour of the place, I'm definately going to do that next time I go there.

[dtown]

i like that clock tower

[wolverine]

Chelsea is booming like crazy right now. Alot of the population there works in Ann Arbor which is definitely a plus for this city. Since A2 is pretty landlocked on available single home development right now, it helps that surrounding cities are making some space. My friends and I take a trip to Chelsea every so once and awhile, it's just a nice place to relax. It's towns like these and a larger city like Ann Arbor that make Washtenaw County such a wonderful place to live.

[tomo]

The train to Chicago goes through Chelsea, doesn't it? That's about all I've seen of it. I've been to Dexter and Brighton though. Not a big fan of Howell. I hear they don't take too kindly to non-white folks.

Maybe what you're looking for is a self-contained neighborhood within a larger city. Kerrytown, possibly Lower Town, in Ann Arbor. Historic Depot Town, and Downtown Ypsi itself is pretty small. Not sure about downtown Ypsi but I don't think there is much of a homeless population in any of those other districts. There's tons of small commercial strips in historic buildings that make up neighborhoods all over the city of Detroit and there's always Hamtramck. I've never had any problems with homeless people in either Ann Arbor or Detroit, though.

I'd much rather live in Ann Arbor or Detroit and take occasional trips to those small town downtowns.

[RustTown]

Chelsea is booming. What worries me is that as fast as a village like Chelsea is growing, most of Washtenaw counties population boom seems to be in the suburban townships. This is just like everywhere else in Michigan, the difference being that Washtenaw's population growth has been huge, but Ann Arbor is either stagnant or losing population, and it's not like there are any other major cities in the country. I've been to Chelsea, and their high school is pretty far out of town, and it looked as if strip sprawl was beginning to grow around it (and this was back in 2003)

[wolverine]

I'm not really worried about Ann Arbor City growth heading in the opposite direction. There just isn't enough available land within A2 for new development. Additionally, as more students come to Ann Arbor every year, it seems like single family homes are being sub-divided for rental housing.

Speaking sprawl surrounding Ann Arbor. I've been riding my bike further out of the city lately. Last week I hit the southern suburbs around Pittsfield, and then a couple days ago, I headed to the west suburban areas. They aren't as sprawly as I thought. Most of it is townhouses and apartment blocks. The single family homes looked pretty dated and some areas were really run down. In fact, A2's suburbs both west and south looked like they were in a serious state of decline. And this wasn't sprawl pushing further out. Cross M-14 and you were in open rural areas. The only area being redeveloped is along Washtenaw where old strip malls and businesses are being torn down for brand new ones.

I'm wondering if the booming suburban population is due to medium-high density housing. That's all that seems to be going up right now outside of A2.

[LA Dave]

That depot is tres cool. My brother and sister-in-law had their rehearsal dinner there, and a big plus for all the rail fans in the family (basically, all the males and some of the females) was when the train to Chicago came ripping by at 79 miles per.

[MJLO]

doesn't Jeff Daniels live in Chelsea?

[RustTown]

Yeah, he owns a theater there, too. The Purple Rose, or something.

[ZachariahDaMan]

That'd be correct, here is the website for the place: http://www.purplerosetheatre.org/