Indiana Ohio State Line

Walking west we arrive at the Indiana Ohio state line.

In 1848 five separate railroads announced plans to meet at the Ohio-Indiana State Line where Union city is now located. Because of their importance, such a unique meeting of railroads made the Union Cities the most important railroad center in the region almost overnight. Within a few years, there were 16 passenger trains and 22 freight trains arriving and departing Union City every 24 hours. Citizens on both sides of the state line proudly adopted the towns' common name and motto, "The Hub of Two States".

Although for governmental and tax reasons, the communities on either side have their own city governments, schools, police, fire, and other services, there is a shared spirit of heritage and community that mutes the separation such that a casual visitor might not even notice there are really two towns. For example, while both towns have welcome signs for drivers entering the city limits which feature the town motto and two-state logo, we find no signs within the town telling visitors that they are entering a different state. It is just not a big deal to the folks that live here.

Interesting fact, for many decades the towns did not share the same time zone. Ohio had adopted daylight savings time but Indiana refused to do so. until 2005. So when making appointments, everybody in the Union Cities became accustomed to asking, "is that fast time or slow time".