As I’ve read through Appeals since 1910, I discovered that in some years, not many changes occurred in Union. However, in others, many developments took place. I wanted to take this opportunity to mention changes in Union in 2019.
*In January, Spaceway on the NW corner of Decatur Street and Jackson Road was sold to Fair Oil Co. from Louisville. Spaceway had opened in that location in 1995.
*Union Motor Sports in the old Luke & Co. building, the yellow building still holding the Union Tire sign at 100 Front Street, closed. That building was built in 1928.
*The First Baptist Church bought the building constructed in 2014 for Ca-La-La and most recently used as Union Funeral Consultants at 308 Main Street. The church offices were moved from the church to this new location.
*In April, Brad Warren bought the former Union Service Station at 109 Jackson Road and renamed it Brad’s Service Station. The first station built at this location was opened as a Sinclair station in 1929.
*Dr. Loren Robinson DDS bought the building that had been built by Emmitt Miley for his Jitney Jungle at 101 Park Street in 1965. She had the building razed, the lot cleared, and a stone wall built on the north and west sides of it in preparation for the future building of her new dental clinic.
*Colby Skelton bought White’s Body Shop from Ernie White. The operation and employees remained the same. The building at 212 Main Street was built by B.J. Milling for his Milling Motor (Ford) dealership in 1951.
*The city of Union completed a project of revitalizing the town’s flower beds before the second Union Day festival June 15. Those traffic islands were built in 1972 by the State Highway Department to improve visibility at intersections as they re-routed Hwy. 15 through downtown Union while they repaired the bridge on Jackson Road.
*Jim Payne moved his Payne Family Fitness Center from its location on Bank Street to his building at 223 Main Street.
*Brad Warren bought the strip of three stores built in 1974 on the southeast end of North Street where the first Presbyterian Church had stood. Nelda Kennedy re-opened her Pok-a-Dot in the middle store in December. The building had been vacant since S & A Restaurant closed the previous year.
*Ron and Kitty Ladner from Sebastopol bought Union Florist on North Street from Rusty Walton in August. The florist was first opened by Mrs. Ruth Ashmore in 1957.
*Added Touch florist opened in August on the bottom floor of Masonic Hall. The area had been vacant since the Miss. Power Co. office closed in 2018. Masonic Hall was built in 1921.
*First Baptist Church renovated its educational building that had been constructed in 1956.
*During the summer, a food truck came to Union and parked in the parking lot across from First Baptist Church one day a week.
*Union Volunteer Fire Department got a new fire truck in October. The new fire station was built in 1995 in the area once occupied by the Buckwalter Lumber Mill Commissary.
*In October, Express RX of Union opened in the pharmacy previously operated by Fred’s Express on the NE corner of Jackson Road and Decatur Street. Richard Smith, who had previously bought Moore’s Pharmacy on Peachtree Street from Harry Moore, built the first pharmacy there in 2003.
*Jim Ogletree hired Steve Milling to raze the old Ogletree Grocery at 202 Jackson Road. The building had been built in 1928 by E.J. Edgar. This piece of Union’s history disappeared on November 6.
*On December 11, the Union Police Department moved to its new location at 320 Front Street in the newly remodeled building owned by the city, once the home of Tri-C. Buckwalter Lumber Company, the first industry in Union, was built in that location in 1906.
*Union Nutrition opened at 209 Main Street in December in the former Sta-Home Health building. Many Union residents will remember Luke’s Furniture Exchange occupying that building for several years.
*Anthony Morales of Morales Properties, LLC, bought the two buildings at 223 and 225 Main Street on December 28 from Jim Payne, HP Development, LLC. Steve Milling continued to lease the building for his office at 225, and Morales owns and operates the fitness center at 223. The building at 225 was built by Arch Freeman in 1912 after the original store burned; it was the first brick building in Union.
If I have omitted a business change, please contact me at teresablount26@yahoo.com or 601-774-5564.
