I went to grad school at University of Michigan. It's 50 miles west of Detroit. I used to ride my bike a lot around the area and there was nothing in the towns right outside Ann Arbor. This was 30 years ago though. Don't know what is there today. I really don't believe Ann Arbor would be much of anything if it wasn't for the school and the associated hospital. Everything revolves around the school. It truly is a college town although it's a big college town because there are so many non-students living there. But that is what happens with a big state school. There are hundreds of professors, administrators and the hospital employs a lot of people. But again, none of that would exist without the school.
Take a similar school, University of Wisconsin in Madison. Madison is a very cool town that revolves around the school, but not as much as Ann Arbor. It's also the state capital. It would exist and be a smaller sized city without the school.