History of Tappan Middle School

Our school was built in 1951 and named in honor of Mr. Henry Phillip Tappan, the first President of the University of Michigan (1852). 

Henry Phillip Tappan was a Reverend, educator and philosopher.  Of strong conviction and personality, he found compromise difficult, if not impossible.  Dr. Tappan resigned from the University of Michigan in 1863.  He is known as a distinguished thinker and has authored several books. 

Tappan Elementary School was built on East University Ave., Ann Arbor, in 1885. 

It was sold to the University of Michigan in the 1920s and renamed East Hall. 

Burns Park Elementary school, built in 1925, was originally Tappan Junior High. 

In 1951, Tappan moved from the Burns Park location and took its name with it.

 (Source: President as Poet: a Note on the Life of Henry Philip Tappan, Part 4 & http://davetgc.com/Ann_Arbor_School_History.html).