The Ark
by oldnews
The Ark has been Ann Arbor’s premiere venue for folk music for more than four decades. Originally established in the mid 1960’s, the Ark has fought to stay afloat as a non-profit venue for live acoustic music. A series of fundraising events eventually led to the establishment of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, which is still a yearly tradition. The original setting for the Ark was a historic house on Hill St., known as the Hill House. Unable to raise sufficient funds to maintain its upkeep and unable to appease its property owners, the First Presbyterian Church, The Ark was forced to move to a new site on Main St. Meanwhile after months of legal debate, the Hill House was destroyed in order to allow for the church’s new parking lot. The decision to tear down the house was met with much protest by the Ann Arbor community. In addition, the Hill House was deemed an historic monument, but this was not enough to safeguard the communal monument. The Ark made one more move to its current site on S. Main St. where it continues to thrive and bring prominent Folk musicians to the city.
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