History :
John Dunham was the first settler in Union Grove, arriving in the spring of 1838 to settle on 80 acres of land. Other early settlers included William Reid who had a small store next to his cabin, and Burton Beers who built a brick hotel. Both were along the "Burlington-Racine Trail" (now Highway 11). Erastmus Cadwell set up a blacksmith shop.

A schoolhouse, called the Union School because it brought together several outlying school districts, was built in 1846 at the junction of present-day Highway 11 and Highway 45.

When a post office was needed for the tiny village in 1846, the Union School and the small grove of Burr Oaks combined to suggest the name "Union Grove" to Governor Henry Dodge.

When the first Racine, Janesville, and Mississippi steam engine rumbled in Union Grove on June 19, 1856, the era of the pioneer ended and a new age began.

An association was formed to purchase land and develop the community around the new railroad. P.P. Tabor promptly set up a store at the railroad's intersection with Main Street. William Reid, who was not one to take competition lying down, put his store on skids during the winter of 1857 and pulled it with a team of oxen to a spot across from Tabor's establishment on the present site of Swantz Hardware. James Jones built a grist mill in 1864-1865 on the present site of Cooperative Plus, Inc. His brick home now serves as the home of American Legion Post #171.