That year in anticipation of the coming of the railroad, town lots were plotted north and east of the creek.

The Philadelphia and Erie Railroad entered the town in 1858 shortly before Edwin L. Drake successfully drilled for oil in Titusville.

Over time, barrel-making for oil bequeathed a wood products industry that has marked the town's economy to the present day.

By 1870, the town's population had risen to 1,500, and the sawmills which had been shut down as part of the scramble for oil riches, were back in business.

Part of the slowdown was no doubt due to a disastrous fire which consumed most of the business establishments along both sides of Main Street south of the creek in 1879.

Whereas the owners of the town's many sawmills had tended to build their residences nearby, the constant threat of fire convinced the managers of the new furniture plants to erect their homes in the developing neighborhoods further removed.

In 1892 following two torrential rainstorms, the south branch of French Creek overflowed its banks and flooded the center of the town.

Several businesses along Main Street were destroyed, leading the Union City Times to declare the disaster "a serious blow to our thriving town..." The flood provided a complete reassessment of the use of the creek for waterpower, and at the same time sparked interest in public improvements in general.

While the Main Street Bridge survived the flood, it was severely weakened, and a concrete one for its replacement was awarded in 1896.

Union City's inelastic wood products economy helped the town to weather the crippling depression of 1892.

Blanchard and Hansen, a firm which combined casket making with furniture production, added a third floor to its Main Street plant.

Increased orders at Novelty Wood Works required that company to put on a night shift.

In 1897 the Union City Times reported that the real estate market had revived and that builders were advertising lots and moderately priced Queen Anne residential designs in large new subdivisions.

While the area still remained essentially a neighborhood of single family dwellings, it could no longer claim to be the town's "A-No.

The wood products industry with several new firms was still very important, but with the exception of the Union City Chair Co. it was no longer centered on Main Street and the creek.

That company is the only one in existence that can trace its lineage directly to the 19th century and the "Mill and Mansion" period.Union City is in southeastern Erie County at 41°53′46″N 79°50′40″W / 41.89611°N 79.84444°W / 41.89611; -79.84444 (41.896056, -79.844425).

[8] The South Branch of French Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River, flows east to west through the borough's center.