Before EMU had campus dorms, students for much of the school's history were housed and sometimes fed in the homes of ordinary Ypsilantians around town. It wasn't unusual. Plenty of adult workers with less-lucrative jobs also roomed and/or boarded in someone else's home in a single private room.
This August 1888 advertisement from the Ypsilanti Commercial shows the less-than-stringent screening process that the Normal School used to find student housing. If you, Ypsi resident, wished to house a student, the school asked you merely to provide your address; whether you were offering room, board, or both; the number of rooms available and their location; and whether you preferred ladies or gentlemen (NOT both!)
Today, of course, a few students still live around town in some homeowner's extra room or apartment. But perhaps it's safe to say the custom of boarding with families at their dinner table is gone. Times change...but how about you? Would you be comfortable putting up an EMU student in your home, maybe with meals every day?
