Mount Union Historic District

Mount Union Borough, in the Ridge and Valley region of Huntingdon County, grew from a canal port on the Juniata River opened in 1831 into a railroad junction and brick-making center. The Dougherty and Speer town plan of 1849 set the street grid, and the East Broad Top Railroad connection in 1873 doubled the population between 1870 and 1900. Three silica brick plants opened from 1899 to 1912, and the population passed 6,000 by 1920. The district includes the John Sharrar House of 1841, the oldest surviving building, and the Welch Building of 1890. Most of its houses date from the 1900 to 1920 boom, when local builders constructed dozens of frame and brick homes on the original lots. Shirley Street developed as the commercial center, with bank branches, churches and a 1915 theater. The district's architecture reflects the town's shifts from canal to railroad to refractories economy.