After securing the route of the Bellefontaine Railroad to cross the state line at this point, Judge Jeremiah Smith purchased the surrounding 160 acres, which were platted and recorded as Union City, Indiana, on December 17, 1849. Indiana's first interstate railroad crossed the state line from Ohio at Union City on Christmas Day 1852. By 1875, five railroads intersected at Union City, where 16 passenger trains and 22 freight trains arrived and departed daily.