Old Hotel and Museum

Fittingly, our tour ends at the Old Hotel, an historical building unto itself which houses the main town museum that is curated by the Preservation Society of Union City Indiana Ohio.

Built around 1840, the Old Hotel was one of the first significant buildings in this area. It was originally built to house the railroad workers who were completing the juncture of several major rail lines connecting from here to Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis and many cities in between. From the 1850's on, it is safe to assume that the Old Hotel was a quite lively place. Oh if it could only speak, what stories it could surely tell.

In the 1960's the town removed the upper two stories of the hotel to save on maintenance costs. In the 1990's when talk began of razing the remainder of the building to make way for a parking lot citizens of Union City stepped in through the Preservation Society to salvage and restore the crumbling structure preserving the classical arched windows and entrance which were signatures of the original structure. Today the Old Hotel houses the city's historical museum where students and visitors come to learn about the rich history of The Hub City.

If we're lucky, Mr. Ted Leahey, an officer of the Preservation Society, will be here to show us around or even do one of his reenactments of historical characters from Union City's past. Don't tell him, but for us youngsters born in the 1950's, Mr. Leahey himself is a beloved historical character.