Greetings From Historic Union. You Know, The Union County One

Your History Tour Guide to Union, and yes, We Know It’s the Township of Union (officially).

Let’s get this out of the way first. Union. Union Township. Township of Union. Call it what you like around town, but officially, we’re talking about the Township of Union in Union County, New Jersey. Got it? Good. Now let’s have some fun.

Union, Union, Union… Which Union Are We Talking About?

Only in New Jersey could a place called Union cause so much confusion! Four municipalities have “Union” in their official names: Union Township in Union County, Union Township in Hunterdon County, Union City in Hudson County, and Union Beach in Monmouth County. To make things even more interesting, smaller communities and localities are also known as Union.

But here’s the real head-scratcher: Union Township is in Union County, but not every Union Township is. There’s another one over in Hunterdon County. And don’t confuse either with Union City or Union Beach. So, for the record, when we say Union, we’re talking about the Township of Union in Union County, New Jersey. Officially, it’s the Township of Union, but most locals call it Union.

Welcome to New Jersey, where even the place names have a little attitude! Welcome to our history share for Union, a community where you can drive past an ordinary-looking corner, shopping center, neighborhood, or tavern and have absolutely no idea what happened there 50, 100, or even 250 years ago. And Union has stories.

Revolutionary War troops marched through here. Farms and country roads gave way to neighborhoods, highways, businesses, and one of New Jersey’s busiest commercial corridors. Route 22 became an attraction in its own right, filled with restaurants, roadside landmarks, bowling alleys, stores, neon signs, and places generations of Jersey families still remember. And tucked into all of that are the people, businesses, schools, neighborhoods, and local characters that made Union…well, Union. That’s what we’re after.

The Mr. Local History Project loves the history that doesn’t always make it into the textbooks: the old restaurant everybody remembers, the business that disappeared, the building you drove past a thousand times, the local legend that might actually be true, and the photograph that makes somebody say, “I remember that place!”

Consider this your personal tour guide to Union’s people, places, landmarks, memories, mysteries, and wonderfully quirky Jersey history. We bring it all together through stories, old photographs, maps, tours, reader memories, and a little humor because history should never be boring.

That’s what we mean by “Jersey history with a social twist.” So let’s take a ride around Union. You might be surprised by what’s been hiding in plain sight.

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