Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 7% of U.S. towns · #755 of 847 in California. What drives it
Most of Union City was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1960.
The Union City post office opened in 1959, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Union (1851), Alvarado (1853) and Decoto (1871), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 7% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Union City is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #755 of 847 in California. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Few California towns list much on the Register (a typical California town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Union City’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (31% of California towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Union City’s history is told.
Union City’s post office has been open since 1959. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Union City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Union City.
From Wikipedia’s history of Union City.
Costanoans ("coastal peoples") were the first inhabitants, primarily the Ohlone peoples living alongside the Alameda and Dry Creeks. Shell mounds along the sloughs of Alameda Creek near the Alvarado sugar mill contained burial sites.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Union City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Mr. Horner had, in 1851, purchased an extensive tract of land, which included the original townsite of Union Citv. From his own and other agricultural interests, a large amount of freight was carried from Union City to the city of San Francisco. History states that the sales of produce from Mr. Horner's acreage alone, one vear, Ijrought forth a revenue of $270, 000.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
December, 1853, he then took passage in the Northern Light, and crossmg the continent by the Nicaragua route, on the Pacific side, sailed m the Sierra Nevada, finally landing in San Francisco, December 31, 1853. A few days later he crossed the bay to Mission San Jose, and finding employment in Union City, there remained for a time Mr. Foster next took a spell at the mines until the following summer, when' he returned to Alameda County, worked at different occupations until 1861, and in that year purchased the place he now occupies, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, situated near Murray's Landing, where he is engaged in general farming and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ville, and for many years filled the office of constable. Union City was the location of the first flour mill of any size established within the limits of the state, this being also an enterprise of the Horners, (John and Wm. Y.) who, in 1853, built at the little port a mill having a run of eight burrs, costing at that time $85,000. It was operated by steam power, and the flour gained a state reputation, through the award at the first Agricultural Fair in California of the first premium. The Union City flour competed with eight
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveAlvarado Courthouse
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereVicky Galindo is born here
Born hereJoey Bragg is born here
Born hereAvantika Vandanapu is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
20222022-03-24 20 25 22 UTC minus 7 View northeast from a…
20222022-03-24 20 25 12 UTC minus 7 View northeast from a…
20222022-03-24 20 24 53 UTC minus 7 View northeast from a…
20222022-03-24 20 24 30 UTC minus 7 View northeast from a…
2018Aerial view of Union City, September 2018
2015Union City Farmers' Market
2013Union City, California
2011Union City, CA
2009Sugar BEe
2008Untitled
2006San Francisco Bay, from EMB120No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Union City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 6,618 people in 1960 to 70,143 in 2020, more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Union City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Union City post office opened in 1959, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Union City is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #755 of 847 in California. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
3% of Union City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a California town; the median home was built in 1980.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
