1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Adrian (city)

ADRIAN, a city and the county-seat of Lenawee county, Michigan, U.S.A., on the S. branch of Raisin river, near the S.E. corner of the state. Pop. (1890) 8736; (1900) 9654, of whom 1136 were foreign-born: (1910 census) 10,763. It is served by five branches of the Lake Shore railway system, and by the Wabash, the Toledo and Western, and the Toledo, Detroit and Ironton railways. Adrian is the seat of Adrian College (1859; co-educational), controlled by the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1859–1867 and since 1867 by the Methodist Protestant Church, and having departments of literature, theology, music, fine arts, commerce and pedagogy, and a preparatory school; and of St Joseph’s Academy (Roman Catholic) for girls; and 1 m. north of the city is the State Industrial Home for Girls (1879), for the reformation of juvenile offenders between the ages of ten and seventeen. Adrian has a public library. The city is situated in a rich farming region; is an important shipping point for livestock, grain and other farm products; and is especially known as a centre for the manufacture of wire-fences. Among the other manufactories are flouring and grist mills, planing mills, foundries, and factories for making agricultural implements, United States mail boxes, furniture, pianos, organs, automobiles, toys and electrical supplies. The value of the city’s factory products increased from $2,124,923 in 1900 to $4,897,426 in 1904, or 130·5%; of the total value in 1904, $2,849,648 was the value of wire-work. The place was laid out as a town in 1828, and according to tradition was named in honour of the Roman emperor Hadrian. It was incorporated as a village in 1836, was made the county-seat in 1838 and was chartered as a city in 1853.