Union City, Michigan

Union City is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the village is within Union Township in Branch County with only a very small portion extending north into Burlington Township in Calhoun County. The population was 1,714 at the 2020 census.

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.

Union City was designated as Station No. 2 of the famous Underground Railroad, where John D. Zimmerman (1811-1879), formerly of Connecticut, was stationmaster. The slaves seeking refuge were taken into a home built around 1840 by Mr. Zimmerman, who arrived in Union City from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the spring of 1838. He brought with him a set of blacksmith tools to operate the blacksmith shop promised for him by Israel Ward Clark, one of the four proprietors of the village of Union City in 1837. In September 1839, Zimmerman returned to Union City with his family; he soon built a wagon factory, blacksmith shop, and a Greek Revival house. Outraged by the institution of slavery, Zimmerman became a stationmaster for the Underground Railroad, hiding escaped slaves in his house and assisting them in their flight to Canada and freedom. The home is on the list of Michigan State Historic Sites and is located at 119 East High Street.

In the early 1920s Union City built a hydroelectrical plant to deliver cheaper electricity to the town. By 1923 Riley Dam was constructed on nearby St. Joseph River, and the backwater forms Union Lake.

Children's author and illustrator Patricia Polacco lives in Union City. Her home, the Meteor Ridge Farm, formerly called The Plantation, was built in 1859 or 1860 and also served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, even receiving a personal visit from President Lincoln. One of Polacco's first books, Meteor!, is based on a true story of a meteor that fell on a farm in the town. Union City now has an annual Meteor Festival in early July, with many activities for children. The original meteor of the story resides in Riverside Cemetery as a family marker.

Union City also sponsors an annual Memorial Day parade, and holds a community Memorial Day service at Riverside Cemetery.

Parts of the horror film trilogy Evil Dead were filmed west of Union City.^{[citation needed]}

On March 6, 2026, at approximately 4:37PM (EST) a deadly EF3 tornado leveled multiple homes just west of Union City at 160 MPH. The tornado killed 3 people and injured 12 others. The tornado was part of a larger tornado outbreak that unfolded between March 5th to March 7th.