# Towns with the name of Union **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827 "2012-08-17T23:27:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Belisarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@Belisarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belisarius)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/1 "2012-08-17T23:27:39Z")
What about all the towns with names that are Union or variants on Union (Uniondale, NY)? I always assumed that they were founded during or shortly after our Civil War. Have I been wrong, a victim of my own folk etymology. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/2 "2012-08-18T00:23:57Z")
Some predate the Civil War, e.g., Uniontown in Pennsylvania, and Union City on the border of Ohio and Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/3 "2012-08-18T02:39:56Z")
**Belisarius** : I’ve not got a clue what column you’re referring to… could you let me know so that we can provide a link? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/4 "2012-08-18T03:48:43Z")
Some have nothing to do with the Civil War. Union City, California was named because it was formed by uniting two unincorporated communities of Alameda County: Decoto and Alvarado. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/5 "2012-08-18T08:16:14Z")
I’m guessing it’s [this](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/828/why-do-so-many-cities-have-a-union-station) article? ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/6 "2012-08-18T18:50:24Z")
\ It must be that column. However, this is a tangent to itself. So I’m going to toss this one over to General Questions and make the title more descriptive. \ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/7 "2012-08-18T19:23:00Z")
Union College of NY – founded in 1795 and thus one of the earliest to use Union in its name – used the name because instead of being run by a church, it was a union of denominations: nondenominational. While other towns and cites were not named for it, the thinking was similar: two or more groups or towns would unite into one. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/8 "2012-08-18T19:38:22Z")
> [@Belisarius](#): > > What about all the towns with names that are Union or variants on Union (Uniondale, NY)? I always assumed that they were founded during or shortly after our Civil War. Have I been wrong, a victim of my own folk etymology. For some reason (probably because I am in the Uniondale/East Meadow/Garden City area quite often), I am compelled to mention that Uniondale, NY is neither a city nor a town nor a village, but rather just an unincorporated area within the Town of Hempstead (which the wiki article on [Uniondale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniondale,_New_York) insists on calling a Hamlet, althought I don’t recall a lot of other people, actually nobody else, using that term - it’s just “Uniondale”) that has a rather flexible northern border, depending on whether the business perfers using Uniondale or East Garden City in it’s address. Uniondale has a historical society :D, who may or may not be able to answer the OP’s question specifically for Uniondale, NY (no webpage I could find) - its up to the OP to find out the story for the hundreds of other “Union” municipalities through-out the nation Uniondale Historical Society 540 Mitchell Street Uniondale NY 11553 Ernest Catanese [ernestcat@juno.com](mailto:ernestcat@juno.com) \<– Juno, baby! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/9 "2012-08-18T20:33:10Z")
[Union City, Georgia.](http://www.unioncityga.org/index.aspx?page=67) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/10 "2012-08-18T20:37:58Z")
There’s a Union County in South Carolina, and the story I heard was that it was named after the Union Church, so named because it accepted people of all denominations, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/11 "2012-08-18T20:46:50Z")
Union, MO was founded in 1825. According to the city, the name was chosen “to express the coming together of people and ideas as demonstrated by Union’s selection as the new, centrally located seat of county government in the early 1800s.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/12 "2012-08-18T23:54:59Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > For some reason (probably because I am in the Uniondale/East Meadow/Garden City area quite often), I am compelled to mention that Uniondale, NY is neither a city nor a town nor a village, but rather just an unincorporated area within the Town of Hempstead (which the wiki article on [Uniondale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniondale,_New_York) insists on calling a Hamlet, althought I don’t recall a lot of other people, actually nobody else, using that term - it’s just “Uniondale”) that has a rather flexible northern border, depending on whether the business perfers using Uniondale or East Garden City in it’s address. I’ve encountered it elsewhere, in Tappan. I gather it’s the standard New York State technical term for something village-ish and unincorporated. ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/13 "2012-08-19T13:07:41Z")
The Town of Union (which encompasses Johnson City and Endicott, NY - among other areas) was named Union becase it’s where the US Revolutionary armies combined in the Sullivan Campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Vaevictis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f04885/32.png) [@Vaevictis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaevictis)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/towns-with-the-name-of-union/631827/14 "2012-08-19T16:01:17Z")
There’s an street named Union in Memphis, and its historical plaque claims that it is named for a local city merger rather than the Union of civil war fame.