Boone County was the 63rd of Indiana's 92 counties to be organized. This event was decided upon by the Indiana General Assembly on January 29, 1830, and became effective on March 1, 1830. There were 621 persons in its boundaries constituting 125 families. Indiana had been a state for 14 years at this time.
The county was named Boone in honor of Colonel Daniel Boone, the pioneer of the West, and was 24 miles wide east to west, and 17.5½ miles deep, north to south, enclosing 420 sq. miles or 268,800 acres.
Union Township is documented back as far as 1826.It is the middle township on the eastern border of Boone County and is comprised of 25 sections of land. It is bounded on the north by Marion Township, on the west by Center and Worth Townships, on the south by Worth and Eagle Townships, and on the east by Hamilton County.
All historical accounts list Union Township as being well drained, naturally.Big Eagle Creek flows through the center of the township from north to south with Finley Creek coming in from the northeast. Mounts Run enters from the extreme northwest. These streams enter Big Eagle Creek in the southern part of the township. Early history describes our township, as we know it even today. The soil is fertile, well drained and produces abundantly all the products grown in its latitude. The farms are beautiful and homelike with all modern improvements. There is nothing to prevent the people from being happy and contented and prosperous. However John Hendricks, Deputy Surveyor, in his survey of May 1821 describes the northern portion of the township as generally thin soil and Oak timber. The Prairies on the west side are fine for stock, good soil and will be sufficiently dry when cultivated. On the other hand the south portion of the township was noted as having a number of quagmires and small willow swamps which are hedged in with very close under wood, many of the small streams will fail in dry weather.
John P. Stark records in his writing The History of Union Township, that before the Indians had given up their hunting and fishing ground along Eagle Creek, the palefaces began to clear away the timber for their cabin homes. It does not take much of an imagination while driving through Union Township to visualize early settlers following Indian trails through the dense forest. The first settlers that came by wagon had to hew the paths wide enough to admit teams and wagons.
The first residents of Union Township were the Lane brothers, Jesse, Edward, Samuel and John. Recorded history has the Lane's here as early as 1826. Ten years after the admission of Indiana as a state into the union, and four years before Boone County became one of the 92 counties of the state. Early neighbors of the Lane's were Benjamin Curse, Henry and John Kouns, Riley Hogshire, George Shirts, George Walker, John Davis, James Richardson, Jacob Johns and Simon and Scipio Sedwick. These early settlers were followed by Henry Nichols, Jacob Tipton, Jacob Jones, James and William Ross, the Dooley's and the Kincaid's. Once these early settlers cleared the way for wagons to enter through our wooded township, a host of others soon followed.
Communities were established in Union Township as settlers began arriving.
Jesse Lane laid out Northfield in 1834. Due to the considerable business conducted at Northfield, land was purchased to erect a courthouse. The law however required the county seat to be within two miles of the center of the county. This law over-rode the importance Northfield occupied in the county and Lebanon became the county seat for Boone County.
Hiram McQuidy built the first mill in the area and was the first tavern keeper in Northfield. Michigan Road was the first public highway. Mr. McQuidy's tavern was one of three dotted along the Michigan Road. It was a great thoroughfare and was heavily traveled by ox and horse teams carrying settlers on their way to the north and west.
The first merchants were Mr. Long, Chance Cole and Jacob Tipton; the first doctors were Knowlton, McClode and S. Hardy. The first blacksmith was a Mr. Robinson and the first schoolteacher was Mr. Bray. The first election was in 1834; John Berry was elected the first Justice of the Peace (one source says John Bray was the first Justice of the Peace) Abner Sanburn was the second Justice of the Peace several years later.
The first religious service was in 1832 at the home of Mr. Sedwick and was conducted by Thomas Brown. It is questionable as to where the first church in the township was built, whether at Northfield or Mounts Run. The records show that the church at Mount Run was organized in 1837; however most recorded history states the first church was Methodist, followed by the Baptist.
Below is an excerpt from "The History of Union Township" by John P. Stark that was published in the Boone County Magazine in September 1974. Mr. Stark was a resident of Union Township from 1857 until his death in 1926.
Nancy J. Richardson, nee Davis, was born in Franklin county in 1834 and came to Boone county when she was four months old with her parents, John and Elizabeth Davis, who lived in a little shack on the Sedwick place, built by the man who had the contract of clearing land for the Michigan Road. Mrs. Richardson stated that the first school she went to was just west of Big Springs, and her father blazed the only road that she had out through the woods. Mrs. Richardson remembers the mill that was built just below the iron bridge on the Noblesville road.
(This would have been just south of the bridge on SR 32 just east of the present day intersection of SR 32 and SR 421.)
Rosston is located on Highway 421, the old Michigan Road, where the Midland Railroad crosses it. James H Ross who was born in Kentucky in 1798 and of Scotch decent founded the village. Early in his life Mr. Ross was a Methodist minister, later to become a farmer. He and his wife Nancy moved to Boone County in 1839 when they purchased considerable acreage in Union Township. In 1871 surveyors for the Midland Railroad (aka Anderson, Lebanon & St. Louis Railroad) staked the railroad right-of-way across his farm. In early 1874, Ross had the county surveyor; David Burns prepare a plat of nine and one-half acres into town lots. James Ross signed the plat in August of 1874 however he died in November of 1875 before he could implement the new village named in his honor.
James J Ross, James H and Nancy's bachelor son, proceeded with the legal work and recorded the plat with the Boone County recorder in January 1876, and as any good developer began selling lots. The town prospered but really began to “boom” in 1887 when the railroad was completed and passenger trains began running through town. Businesses serving the surrounding area included: two general stores, sawmill, blacksmiths shop, grain elevator, doctor, post office, two coal yards and livestock pens for loading onto railroad cars for transport to markets in the city.
The next stop on the Midland R.R. in Union Township was Gadsden. (This town has two names, Gadsden or Gadsen, depending on which sign on State Road 32 you look at.) County surveyor Albert Warren surveyed the land owned by Madison Carr and Thomas Moore and recorded the town plat in 1887. With the newly constructed railroad the town grew rapidly. Businesses included the railroad depot, two general stores, two blacksmith's shops, doctor's office, grain elevator and livestock pens. There was also a tile factory on the edge of town.
More recently Gadsden was known for Jones' Greenhouses. They were first build in 1928. In the early years of operation the greenhouse produced garden plants and geraniums. Geraniums were shipped to almost every state in the U.S.
There were eight one-room schools in the Union Township. One of the more picturesque named schools was "Bear Slide" which was located east of US 421 on County Road 200 South.
In 1937 the township saw fit to build a consolidated school for all eight grades. The site chosen is the site of the present Union Township Elementary School. The original building consisted of four rooms containing two classes or grades. The staff consisted of the principal and four teachers.
There are eight cemeteries in Union Township. Interestingly, there are two Revolutionary War Veterans buried in the township.
Mts. Run Cemetery is located at Mts. Run Baptist Church south of State Road 32 on 775 East.
Joseph Wheatly Cemetery is three miles north of State Road 32 on U.S. 421 on the east side of the road. It is the burial site of Revolutionary War Soldier Joseph Wheatly who died July 30, 1844 at the age of 83.
Rosston Cemetery is also on U.S. 421 just north of the intersection with State Road 32, also on the east side of the road.
Lutheran Cemetery is on Road 900 East south of Road 200 South where the road curves to the west.
Lane Cemetery (also called Dodson) is located on Road 200 South ¾ mile west of U.S. 421.
Johns Cemetery is located south of Road 100 South and about a mile west of the county line with Hamilton County. Revolutionary War Soldier Henry Johns, Sr is said to be buried here. He was born April 21, 1757 and died March 26, 1833. The Johns' family and the township trustee are working on restoring this cemetery.
Simeon Sedwick family burial is about ½ mile east of Rosston on the north side of the railroad.
Pleasant View or Hutton Cemetery is on the corner of 300 South and 975 East. Washington Hutton donated the land for the Pleasant View Church and Cemetery. The Church no longer exists as it was intentionally burned in August of 1973.
There was also a family cemetery southwest of Northfield but it is unknown as what family it was.
(Editor's note: this history is a work in progress. As such it will be published on the Parks page on the Township Web Site. This way the history can "live" and the large middle part between now and the early days can be filled in. If you have recent or early information to share please do. If you see errors that need correction also, please do!)
Candace Ulmer
1880 South 950 East
Zionsville, IN 46077