UNION TOWNSHIP

This is a wealthy township, and is also one of the oldest settled. the first to settle there was Andrew Rice, with his family, in March 1855. During that year several families located and selected claims. Among them were I. Fowler and family, Dr. R. W. Hosford, W. C. Fowler, S. S. Dark and J. F. Willitts.

The first birth was that of Nancy E., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Rice, on December 4, 1855.

The first postoffice was established in 1855, and was called Middletown. William Butler was the first Postmaster.

The first store was a little grocery, kept in a log cabin, by Hugh Cameron, and opened in the spring of 1856.

The first school was one supported by a subscription from its patrons. The schoolhouse was built of logs, and the material was hauled and the house built by the citizens of the neighborhood, all the work being contributed. The first school was taught in the fall of the year 1856, and was in the locality now included in District No. 31.

The first marriage was in the fall of 1856, and was that of Austin Harvey and Miss Marshall.

From the date of the first settlement, what is now Union Township continued to flourish, and the settlement and improvement kept pace with other parts of the county.

Union Township was organized early in the spring of 1869, from territory which until then formed a pat of Oskaloosa Township. An election was held the following April, at which time Robert Davidson was elected Trustee, and S. S. Dark and W. C. Fowler, Justices of the Peace.

The township still continues to improve. There are now seven school districts within its limits The church societies are well represented.

There was no railroad with the township until the fall of 1881, when the Leavenworth, Topeka & Southwestern Railroad was built across it from east to west, and until that time it contained no village, and now has one. There are three post offices in the township - Grove City, Woodstock and McLouth.