We could write a book about everything we’ve learned from the Fake Ad contest. [Editor’s note: You did. It’s for sale online at annarborobserver.com/books.] There’s something wonderful about people in Ann Arbor wanting to share everything they know—unless you’re at a cocktail party, of course. Our contest is no cocktail party.
“The Fake Ad is on page 32 for the Academic Trivia Night,” writes David Karl in one of our 106 correct entries. “Last month’s winner’s name was hidden in the answer to the question, ‘Can you name the first state university law school in the midwest?’ Indiana University’s ‘Maurer’ School of Law opened in 1842, making it the first.”
Not to be outdone, U-M law professor Dave Moran writes, “The answer to the first question is Wallace Sayre (although Woodrow Wilson said something very similar decades earlier), and U-M is, of course, the answer to the third question (Angell Hall).”
Karl also got that question right. “Thomas Jefferson drafted the quote from the Northwest Ordinance written in 1787. Although the actual authors probably were Nathan Dane and Rufus King … In 1887, the inscription was installed in the auditorium of the old University Hall. When that building was torn down, the inscription was inscribed on Angell Hall when it was built.
“I must admit,” he continues, “what really gave the ad away was the February 30 date. That would have been quite a typo.”
JJ McKillop, whose name sounds like a renegade private eye on a 1970s TV drama, was chosen as our winner. She’s taking her gift certificate to Seva.
Order The Fake Ad Book and I Spy: Ann Arbor Architecture at AnnArborObserver.com/books To enter this month’s contests, email backpage@aaobserver.com or write to us at PO Box 1187, AA 48106.
