How Union County Got Its Name

The boundaries of Union County were defined in minute detail, upon its creation in 1857

“Beginning at the Sound, leading from Elizabethtown Point to Amboy, at the easternmost point in the division line between the counties of Essex and Middlesex; thence northeasterly along the eastern line of Essex County to the southeast point in the division line of the township of Clinton; thence westerly along the division line between the township of Clinton and the city of Elizabeth to the division line between the townships of Clinton and Union; thence along the northerly and westerly line of division between the townships of Union and Clinton to the northerly division line of the township of Springfield; thence down the east branch of the Rahway River to the junction of the east and west branches of the said river; thence up the west branch of the said Rahway River to the mouth of William and Abner States’ mill pond; thence along the middle of the said pond or ponds to the mouth of the brook that runs south and near to Wellington Campbell’s paper-mill; thence up said brook to the new road near said Wellington Campbell’s mill-dam; thence up said new road to the Morris turnpike; thence up the said turnpike to the Passaic River at a point in the west division line of the township of Springfield; thence along said line to the northerly division line of the township of New Providence; thence along the north and west division line of the township of New Providence to the division line of the township of Plainfield; thence along the westerly and southerly division line of the township of Plainfield to the division line between the counties of Essex and Middlesex; thence easterly along the division line between said counties to the place of beginning on the Sound; including and intending to include within the said metes and bounds all that part of the county of Essex now contained within the city of Elizabeth and the townships of Rahway, Union, Westfield, Plainfield, New Providence, and that portion of the township of Springfield included within the boundary lines hereinbefore described, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate county, to be called the county of Union; and said lines shall hereafter be the division lines between the counties of Essex, Somerset, Morris, Middlesex, and the said county of Union, respectively.”

For The Complete Story of the County’s creation, click here to purchase a copy of the Union County 150th Anniversary Magazine.