Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Lambert-Parent House. Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1870.
Union City dates its founding to 1838 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 87% 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 87% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Union City’s 6.6 sits above most of its state (68% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Union City.
Union City was platted in 1838 and incorporated on December 6, 1853. Incorporation came during a period of growth occasioned by the opening of a line of the Greenville and Miami Railroad through the town on December 12, 1852.
One house in Union City, the Lambert-Parent House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Union City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Versailles, platted in 1819, and duly incorporated in 1855, and located in Wayne Township ; Union City, a flourishing place on the State line, platted in 1838, and incorporated in 1853, and a lively railroad center ; Gettysburg, incorporated in 1866 ; Dallas, in 1867 ; Arcanum, platted in 1849 and incorporated in 1858. and Bradford, platted in 1867, and incorporated in 1871. The villages are thus enumerated : Minatown, laid out in 1818 ; Fort Jefferson, same j'ear. remarkable as
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Union City was platted in 1838, and incorporated December 6, 1853. It is distinctively a railroad center and owes its remarkable development to that fact. The Greenville and . Miami railway was completed to this point from Greenville on December 25, 1852. The Union and Logansport Railroad (now the Logansport division of the Pennsylvania railway) was started under the title of the ^Monroe and Mississinawa railroad, in 1854, but not completed until 1867. The "Bee
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
eastern portion of the township. It now ha-; a Rearmed and a United Brethren church, a school house and a few shops, but on account of its proximity to the thriving railway town of Union City, has been unable to make much progress. Nashville is the only other village in this township. It is located on the township line in section 34, at the intersection of the old State road and the Palestine pike. It contains one general store and a U. B. church, the latter being in German town-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The two named are the only lawyers in Union City. There is one physician, a resident of three years, and there has never been a post office in Jackson Township It would be pleasant could we have known from experience the gradual changes which evolved farm, hamlet and city, from the demands of production, commerce and manufacture, but the foregoing vividly contrasts with the savagery prevalent less than thirty years before, and illustrates the civilizing power of the railway in its course across States as well as counties, and in its bead-like stations along its route.
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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 792 and 1,985 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
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.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1838, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1870 counted 792 people here.
Union City is more historic than 87% 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.
One place: the Lambert-Parent House (listed 1980).
33% of Union City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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