Founding year: the first Union City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Union City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Union City is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Union City’s overall grade.
Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan 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 (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Union City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was first surveyed by Robert Clark in 1826, and Isaiah Bennett purchased the first plot of land from the government in 1831. Justus Goodwin bought a large piece of Bennett's land in 1833, and he built a mill and became the first postmaster when a post office began operating on November 9, 1834. The post office was named Goodwinville. In 1835, E. W. Morgan platted the community and named it Union City. The post office was also renamed as Union City on January 23, 1840. The name was believed to come from the "union" of the Coldwater River and St. Joseph River that ran through the area. Union City incorporated as a village in 1866.
Passages that mention Union City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Branch county, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1879 · page 211Read the page →
Read the text
Union City had an equal chance with other places for securing both the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central Railways ; but the ideas of the people were yet fixed on a canal, and nothing else would satisfy them. When, however, the two railroads mentioned passed, one to the wjuth and the other to the north of them, and Coldwater and Marshall and Battle Creek became of such importance among the cities of the State, the citizens of Union City
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Branch county, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1879 · page 206Read the page →
Read the text
The four proprietors — the CI arks. Diamond, and Gilbert— laid out on the " two-hundred-acre tract," as it was called, the village of Union City, in the spring of 1837, the acknowledgment to the plat being dated April 10 of that year. It was surveyed by O. Wilder, who made the following minutes upon the margin of the map : "The town is laid out on section 4, in township 5 south, of range 7 west. The Coldwater Kiver is a stream of great power, and with
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.
The Union City post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Union City rank for history?
Union City is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Union City?
49% of Union City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1941.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people 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.
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