Union Bridge Town

Carroll County, Maryland

Union Bridge Town Hall is located at 104 West Locust Street, Union Bridge, MD 21791.
Phone: 410‑775‑2711.

Union Bridge as described in 1940 [1]

Union Bridge, on Little Pipe Creek, was settled in the 1730s by William Farquhar who became prosperous making buckskin breeches.

The village got its present name when the settlers, many of them Quakers, built a bridge uniting various scattered Pipe Creek settlements. From early time, Union Bridge showed industrial initiative. A linseed oil mill and a nail factory were operating here about 1800. Resident Jacob R. Thomas invented a mechanical reaper that was unsuccessful in its trial in 1811, but was later perfected by Thomas' cousin, Obed Hussey. A large cement plant, a shirt factory, a men's clothing factory and the Western Maryland Railroad machine shop continue the industrial tradition. A farmers market co-op, organized in 1817, is still in existence.

One and one-half miles outside of town is the birthplace of sculptor William Henry Rinehart [1825-1874].

1. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Program, Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State, American Guide Series, University of Maryland, 1940.

Nearby Towns: New Windsor Town • Taneytown City •