1775 or 1765, excuse me.

Around Browns Creek, where Browns Creek is, there was a a church that was built and it was called the Unionville Church.

And as it began to grow, Unionville itself did it.

It began to migrate westward.

Union was founded in 1837.

We or actually established in 1823.

But we didn't get founded incorporated until 37.

Union County historically was a textile community.

Just about every community in Union County was built around textile.

So we have a rich history of manufacturing.

A lot of the towns, the old towns are built along the river.

We're located along the Broad River.

We missed the action in, in the Civil War.

General Sherman was was headed up out of Atlanta, coming to Savannah, Columbia, all up through that area.

And it rained real hard and it flooded.

And, they said, oh, well, you know, let's just keep on and going up through York and places like that.

Economic development in Union is pretty diverse.

besides industry that we have across the town, we also have retail and commercial development.

I think a lot of people think of a union as being really rural when we're not.

We're starting to see that growth, not just the other cities around us.

We have spent a lot of money.

It's a city of great trying to get growth back on my street, anchored by USC Union, and we also have a really nice event center downtown.

The focus has always been on industrial growth, because that's where communities get the biggest bang for their buck and taxable investment along with job creation.

So besides just the industrial growth, we want to focus on small business, retail, quality of life, housing initiatives.

Oh great store parks and recreation, several different factors to make Union County a better place to live, work, and play.

We move the world from right here in Union County.

Our industries are producing some amazing products.

You couldn't row a BMW without Union County.

You couldn't row a wind turbine without Union County.

I've been running Midway BBQ for about 30 years.

This is year 30, and, it's my family's business.

My wife's father had it prior.

He told me to learn fast, so he gave me all the recipes, and he hired me to do it.

The number one food item's hash.

Our name is Midway Barbecue.

But hash is where it's at.

And then, very unique to Union County.

When my father-in-law first started, there was 50 more than 50 people cook hash, and that was about 55 years ago.

And now we're about the last one left.

And then, of course, you know, you can't say Midway BBQ without barbecue.

We cook our barbecue every day and it's smoked.

And then we pull it, and you can do sauce on the side, or we have a red sauce that we've been doing for 55 years.

Mixed in.

Probably eat here at least once a week.

It's just outstanding food.

The people here are just wonderful.

Jay and his family, they've been running this place for a lot of years.

Just can't beat it.

I love people and just at Midway I meet such a wide variety of people and I have them.

I feel like I have a million friends.

We do a uniquely union every September.

This event actually got its start from the Kudzu Festival many years ago, and it has been ongoing for many years, and we have seen it grow to where it now takes over all of Main Street, with bands, with vendors, with all kind of activities.

And it was primarily a barbecue festival, and we saw the need for it to diversify.

And we wanted there to be something for every member of the family and uniquely Union.

Some other events, a fishing rodeo, which is a public safety day, Piedmont Arks Art and Physics Garden puts on a festival.

In April.

The Union County Fair moved to its its existing location in the 1950s.

We are one of the few counties this size to still have a fair, and it is in October of every year and the fairground is constantly full of people.

It's the smell of the carnival food.

It is all the lights and all of the agricultural, items that people bring, the flowers.

The cow shows, the pig shows, the goat shows, they do all of this here and the community just rallies around it.

We also have plenty of, racing opportunities between Big Buck and GNCC.

See, racing that is a national racing group.

And so there's always something going on, whether it is racing related, whether it is, Kudzu related, whether it is uniquely Union related.

There's always something to do Union.

It's our town.

Union.

It's our town.

Union.

It's our town.

Yeah, it's our town.

Union is our town.

Union is our town.