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–Not graded
History · Union Mills

Union Mills’ post office opened in 1845, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

1845first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Union Mills began

When was Union Mills founded?

1845

The Union Mills post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name.

181 years
Founding year: the first Union Mills post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Union Mills’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Union Mills are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1845: 181 years of Union Mills.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Union Mills’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Union Mills’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Union Mills came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Union Mills.

Read it all →

Joseph Wheaton, one of the earliest settlers, came to the Mill Creek in 1832 and laid out a small village. The gristmill was built on Mill Creek was built in 1836 by Sylvanus Everts. Everts named the mill "Union Mills" and Wheaton's village followed to be known as Union Mills. In 1838 the village had only five log houses. A general store opened in 1840. The construction of three rail lines near Union Mills stimulated growth.

Union Mills was platted in 1849, but there had been a settlement at the site for some time prior. The community took its name from a gristmill constructed in the 1830s.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Union Mills, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Ligonier 20-11-19 1752020Ligonier 20-11-19 175Ligonier 20-11-19 1742020Ligonier 20-11-19 174Ligonier 20-11-19 1722020Ligonier 20-11-19 172Union Mills High School, 19142019Union Mills High School, 1914Post Office, circa 19102019Post Office, circa 1910Greetings from Union Mills, 19272010Greetings from Union Mills, 1927
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

WellsboroIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Union Mills’ history

What year was Union Mills founded?

The Union Mills post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.