The History of Union City, Oklahoma

Union City has been visited by a number of tornadoes. The first one on record was in 1896 when a tornado destroyed the Union City Catholic Church. This church was located across the street to the west of the present day Methodist Church. In 1927 another tornado went through town. This one destroyed a number of homes plus the cotton gin, which was located where the bank is now. In 1939 a tornado struck to the east of town. the tornado of the afternoon of May 24, 1973, is the one that everyone remembers. It destroyed much of the north and east part of Union City. (our Links page has a link to a video on the May 24, 1973 tornado)

In 1894 Union City had a two room school, in the same location as now, with two teachers. They were Katie Mead and her niece Bess Mead. Bess had grades 1-2-3-4 and Katie 5-6-7-8. Over the years the rural schools consolidated with the Union City school. The new gymnasium with cafeteria and community storm shelter was built in 1961. The high school addition was in 1982. The old high school was remodeled and is now used for the elementary grades. Today (October 1986) the average daily attendance for Kindergarten though 8 grade is 178 students. The average daily attendance for the high school at this time is 82. There are 12 high school teachers and 11 grade school teachers. The superintendent is Ben Grove, high school principal is Wallace Boblit and elementary principal is Mrs. Rebecca Wright. This is a far cry from the time of Katie and Bess of nearly on hundred years ago.

Now let us look at some of the present day (1986) business establishments in Union City, starting at the intersection of 152 and 81 highway. First of all we see a Conoco Service Station owned by Lloyd and Nancy Menz. For many years there has been a service station on this location, but it was not always that way. In 1902 the local paper called the Union City Alert had the following ad for the town's leading saloon. the name of the saloon was the Congress Hall, the proprietor was Nat Haywood and his advertisement went as follows: "Ye thirsty souls, both one and all, visit Uncle Nat at the Congress Hall." This Congress Hall was located right where the Conoco station is today.

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