Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA
Originally a trading post established in 1809 by Gabriel Godfroy, a French-Canadian fur trader from Montreal, a permanent settlement was established on the east side of the Huron River in 1823 by Major Thomas Woodruff. It was incorporated into the Territory of Michigan as the village Woodruff's Grove. A separate community a short distance away on the west side of the river was established in 1825 under the name "Ypsilanti", after Demetrius Ypsilanti, a hero in the Greek War of Independence.[9] Woodruff's Grove changed its name to Ypsilanti in 1829, the year its namesake (and Demetrius' brother) effectively won the Greek war, and the two communities eventually merged.
A bust of Demetrius Ypsilanti stands between a Greek and a US flag at the base of the landmark Ypsilanti Water Tower.
Why?
Alexander Ypsilantis, (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Υψηλάντης; Romanian: Alexandru Ipsilanti; Russian: Александр Константинович Ипсиланти; 12 December 1792 – 31 January 1828) was a member of a prominent Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars, and a leader of the Filiki Eteria, a secret organization that coordinated the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire.
