Welcome to Union County, Florida

Located in North Central Florida, Union County has a population of over 15,000 residents. Its economy relies on agriculture, timber, trucking and the Florida Department of Corrections. The Union County School System is comprised of one high school, one middle school, one elementary school, an alternative school and adult education. With an “A” ranked school district, state-of-the-art emergency management, in county health services and a user friendly library, Union County is a great place to live and raise a family

The area that is now Union County, Florida was originally part of St. Johns County when Florida first became a territory of the United States in 1821.

Union County Board of County Commissioners
15 NE 1st Street,
Lake Butler, FL
(386) 496-4241

Regular Monthly Board Meetings are at 6:00 p.m.
on the third Monday of each month.

 

The area that is now Union County, Florida was originally part of St. Johns County when Florida first became a territory of the United States in 1821. In 1822 Union became part of Duval County. From 1828-1832 the area that is now Union County was part of Alachua County. Upon its creation in 1832, Columbia County encompassed the area of Union where it remained until 1858. In 1858 New River County was created and the town of Lake Butler was designated as the county seat. In 1861 the name of the county was changed to Bradford in honor of Major Bradford, the first Confederate officer from Florida to lose his life in the Civil War. After the war, several elections were held to determine if Lake Butler or Starke should be the county seat. In the late 1890’s Starke won the site election and was named the county seat. In 1921, rather than have another site election, Bradford County was divided in order to form Union County.

On May 20, 1921, an act providing for the creation of Union County was presented to the State Legislature. The part of Bradford County at the Baker County line where the bed of New River intersects, following a southwesterly direction to the bed of the Santa Fe River was given to Union County. On October 1, 1921 Union County officially became the 61st county of the State of Florida comprising 246 square miles. The name “Union” was chosen as the name of the county to express its unity after years of strife and division.

Union County’s current population estimate (U.S. Census 2010) is 15,535. The local economy of Union County, Florida relies on agriculture, timber, trucking and the Department of Corrections. The Union County School system includes one high school, one middle school, one elementary school, an alternative school, and adult education classes. The rural community is considered a great place to raise a family with a top-notch school system, state-of-the art emergency management, local hospital and health clinic, user-friendly public library, beautiful courthouse facility and much more.

ACCESSIBILITY ASSISTANCE
Please be advised that our efforts are ongoing. If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader, a Braille reader, or TTY) and the format of any material on our website interferes with your ability to access the information, or to request a reasonable accommodation, or if you need information provided in an alternative format, please let us know via one of the methods outlined below. We will make reasonable effort to accommodate all needs and/or requests. We are in the process of remediating documents that are posted on our County Website. Thank you for your patience. You can request documents that have been online in the past through the contact info below or make an official public records request. 

Nathan E. Thornton
ADA Coordinator/Website Administrator 
15 NE 1st Street, Lake Butler, FL
(386) 496-4241
[email protected]

Please Note: 

Meetings:

For notices concerning specific meeting announcements, please see the Public Notices tab.

The Union County Board of County Commissioners regularly scheduled meetings are the third Monday of each month. To view meetings and agendas please click here.

Broadband Survey

Please note: If you are using a phone, make sure that you are connected to Wifi. If you are not connected to Wifi while using your phone the test will be inaccurate.

The Union County BOCC is working hard to improve internet connectivity in Union County. In order to do so, we have to gather data to document/prove our current internet service is not adequate to meet the needs of our schools, medical telemedicine, businesses and everyday needs of out citizens. Please take a few minutes to access the website below which will create a little dot on a software data map so we can document where the greatest needs are to improve broadband in Union County.

Check Your Broadband Speed