diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 17ad35180ec..50018135059 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -419,6 +419,8 @@ Release 0.91.0 - Unreleased
                the Thrift API (Anirudh Todi)
    HBASE-3900  Expose progress of a major compaction in UI and/or in shell
                (Brad Anderson)
+   HBASE-4291  Improve display of regions in transition in UI to be more
+               readable (todd)
 
   TASKS
    HBASE-3559  Move report of split to master OFF the heartbeat channel
diff --git a/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hbase/tmpl/master/AssignmentManagerStatusTmpl.jamon b/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hbase/tmpl/master/AssignmentManagerStatusTmpl.jamon
index f5279043567..62a63b1f921 100644
--- a/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hbase/tmpl/master/AssignmentManagerStatusTmpl.jamon
+++ b/src/main/jamon/org/apache/hbase/tmpl/master/AssignmentManagerStatusTmpl.jamon
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ No regions in transition.
 	<table>
 		<tr><th>Region</th><th>State</th></tr>
 		<%for Map.Entry<String, RegionState> entry : rit.entrySet() %>
-		<tr><td><% entry.getKey() %></td><td><% entry.getValue() %></td>
+		<tr><td><% entry.getKey() %></td><td><% entry.getValue().toDescriptiveString() %></td>
 		</%for>
 	</table>
 </%if>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/AssignmentManager.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/AssignmentManager.java
index 90e1a3c8b75..dee3c229c59 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/AssignmentManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/AssignmentManager.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import java.io.DataOutput;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -2520,6 +2521,19 @@ public class AssignmentManager extends ZooKeeperListener {
         + ", server=" + serverName;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A slower (but more easy-to-read) stringification 
+     */
+    public String toDescriptiveString() {
+      long lstamp = stamp.get();
+      long relTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - lstamp;
+      
+      return region.getRegionNameAsString()
+        + " state=" + state
+        + ", ts=" + new Date(lstamp) + " (" + (relTime/1000) + "s ago)"
+        + ", server=" + serverName;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
       region = new HRegionInfo();