Union Township, Auglaize County

How Union Township, Auglaize County began

Union Township, in the northeast part of Auglaize County, was set off from Allen County territory by the Allen County commissioners on March 3, 1834, on the petition of J. C. Lusk, and held its first election that April with thirty votes. Settlers came mainly from Virginia and southern Ohio and entered nearly all of its land by the end of 1836. Uniopolis, platted by John Huffman in 1837, grew little until the Ohio Southern Railroad came through in 1892; it incorporated as a village in 1900 and voted to disincorporate back into the township in 2013. Hugh T. Rinehart, whose house is separately listed on the National Register in Wapakoneta, settled in the township in the 1830s.

Settled 1832-1833 (land entries from 1832; John Morris in 1833), platted September 1837 (Uniopolis, by John Huffman), incorporated March 3, 1834 (township set off by the Allen County commissioners), by J. C. Lusk, petitioner.

Where the name comes from

One of twenty-seven Union Townships in Ohio; no township-specific naming story is recorded.

Before the town

No Native American villages, mounds, or documented sites specific to Union Township are recorded. The township lies within the broader area the Shawnee occupied and hunted before the 1817 reservation treaties and 1832 removal centered a few miles away at Wapakoneta. Fort Amanda, listed on the National Register and sharing a ZIP code with this township, stands in Logan Township, Auglaize County, not in Union Township.

Timeline

1. 1833 — John Morris moves from Virginia to Section 30; he finds not an acre of cleared land in the township except what the Indians had cleared, lives in an Indian cabin until he builds his own, and becomes the township's first justice of the peace.
2. 1834 — On March 3 the Allen County commissioners grant J. C. Lusk's petition to set off Town 5 South, Range 7 East as Union Township; thirty votes are cast at the first election in April, held at Benjamin Corder's house, choosing John Schooler and John Corder trustees.
3. 1834 — A road is opened from Union Township to Logan County by way of Roundhead, running along the ridge summits to avoid bridges; in 1833 there had been no public roads.
4. 1836 — The first school is taught by R. C. Layton, and two more schoolhouses are built, after four in 1833-34; by the close of the year every section except section 16 has been entered.
5. 1837 — John Huffman platts Uniopolis in September in the southwest quarter of section 17.
6. 1839 — Hugh T. Rinehart, a Virginia-born blacksmith (born 1813), settles on section 14; Wikipedia gives 1839 for his arrival, but the 1905 sketch has him marry about 1833 and emigrate three years later, about 1836.
7. 1876 — A gravel pike from Wapakoneta to Waynesfield is built; pikes then spread to all parts of the township.
8. 1892 — The Ohio Southern Railroad is built through the township; Uniopolis, at a standstill until then, grows.
9. 1900 — Uniopolis incorporates as a village.
10. 1902 — Construction of the Sandusky Southwestern Electric Railroad begins through the southern part of the township.
11. 1903 — Union Township has 343 enrolled pupils in nine brick schools; Uniopolis has about 400 residents in 1904, a four-room school, two stores, two hardware stores, a flouring mill and a tile factory.
12. 2013 — Voters choose to disincorporate Uniopolis, returning it to unincorporated status within the township.
13. 2020 — The census counts 1,746 people in Union Township.

Stories

A village that voted itself out of existence

Uniopolis, in the southwest of Union Township, was founded in 1837 and incorporated as a village in 1900, complete with its own village hall, now a museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By the twenty-first century the small community had shrunk to under 200 people, and in 2013 its voters chose to disincorporate, folding Uniopolis back into the surrounding township government rather than continue to run a separate village. It is a small, concrete example of rural Ohio's long population decline, and a reminder that a place's history on the map is not always a one-way street toward growth.

A bull to carry the grist

Joseph Copeland came to Union Township at eighteen with his father Abner and recalled that when he started farming 'it was new and wild.' His first team was a yoke of bulls, and when one died the other was worked alone like a horse. He liked to tell what happened to a neighbor who bridled and saddled his bull to carry a grist to the mill: all went well until they met another bull, and the two animals flew at each other. The rider dismounted, took off his grist, saddle and bridle, let the beasts settle the matter, and went on his way with a horse. Before his death on June 19, 1902, Copeland owned nine hundred acres.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org

Every historic place in Auglaize County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Wapakoneta City75% of residentsTeays River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Lima City10% of residentsAuglaize River and Ottawa River, stored in city upground reservoirs
• Waynesfield Village8% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Cridersville Village6% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Brightstar Lima MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Lakeside Estates Mobile Home Park0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-18: county board of elections.

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-07-30

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