Union is one of the eight

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

located in

Perry County, Missouri Perry County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,956. Its county seat is Perryville. The county was officially organized on November 16, 1820 (effectiv ...

, in the United States of America.

Etymology

Union Township is named after

Uniontown, Missouri Uniontown is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community located in Union Township, Perry County, Missouri, Union Township in southeastern Perry County, Missouri, Perry County, Missouri, United States. It is situated on U.S. Route 61 in Mi ...

. The town's original name, Paitzdorf, was changed during the American Civil War in response to Union soldiers encamped nearby.

History

The area of Union Township was originally under the authority of the New Bourbon District, which was one of two districts formed by the French colonial administration of

Upper Louisiana The Illinois Country ( ; ; ), also referred to as Upper Louisiana ( ; ), was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s that later fell under Spanish and British control before becoming what is now part of the Midwestern United States. Whi ...

(

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

). Authority passed from French to Spanish colonial administration when the colony was handed over to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in 1762. The French colonials in Ste. Genevieve were continuously harassed by Osage Indians to the south. Looking to stop the harassment and raids, the Spanish authorities in the 1790s invited Shawnee and Delaware Indians from

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

to immigrate and settle in the area around Apple Creek to act as a buffer against Osage raids. The

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

established a number of villages around Apple Creek, with Le Grand Village Sauvage or "Big Village" as it was known to the Americans, being one of the largest. American harassment and encroachment on Shawnee and Delaware lands caused tensions and the eventual removal of the Shawnee and Delaware from the region. Some of the earliest Europeans to put down roots in the area were English and Scotch-Irish Methodist settlers from North Carolina who settled in the Longtown area in 1821. Among the earliest families were the Abernathys, Farrars, and Rutledgers. These settlers were part of a large exodus from the Piedmont region of North Carolina following the War of 1812. The settlement was initially known as the "Abernathy Settlement". It is not clear why the name changed to Longtown. Later, in 1840 the village of Paitzdorf ( Uniontown) was founded by members of the German Saxon Lutheran immigration. The

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

(French: Le Chemin du Roi, Spanish: El Camino Real), runs through the township linking

Perryville, Missouri Perryville is a city in Perry County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census. Perryville is the county seat of Perry County. History Perryville was selected the county seat of Perry County by Robert ...

Jackson, Missouri Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. It is a principal city of the Cape Girardeau-Jackson metropolitan area Area. The population of Jackson was 15,481 at the 2020 census. History In 1813, ...

. Union Township was organized between 1870 and 1890.

Geography

Union Township covers an area of and contains one incorporated village: Longtown and the unincorporated villages of: Apple Creek, Schalls and Uniontown.

Demographics

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,067 people living in the township. The racial makeup of the town was 98.50%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, and 0.80% from other races.: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts, 2010 Census of Population and Housing https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-27.pdf

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were 1,062 people living in the township. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 23 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 98.50%

, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 0.7% Asian, and 0.5% from other races.City-data.com http://www.city-data.com/township/Union-Perry-MO.html

Other Union townships

The

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

(GNIS) records 33 townships named Union in various counties of Missouri.

References

{{authority control Townships in Perry County, Missouri Townships in Missouri