History of Berks County - Union Township
The following is reproduced from the 1876 Atlas of Berks County, Pennsylvania
This township was originally settled by people of several nationalities, the Sweeds, Welsh and English predominating. The early lists of taxables, exhibit a curious mixture of Swedish, Welsh and English surnames which the changes of more than a century have not wholly obliterated. The township is bounded north-east by the Schuylkill, which separates it from Amity; south by Chester county; and west and northwest by Robeson. It comprises an area of about twenty-one thousand acres. The soil is sterile, and the inducements for improving it are so meagre that little has been done to reclaim the waste land. The surface is very uneven. The territory is well watered by the Schuylkill and its tributaries, Hay creek, Spence run, Mill creek and the two branches of French creek. These tributaries afford several mill sites, many of which are occupied by industrial works of different kinds.
The population of the township, in 1870, was 2,165.
Several villages are found within its limits, known as Port Union, Unionville, Mount Airy, Monocacy and Hopewell.