Union City, Tennessee - Downtown

[Rural King]

Union City, Tennessee

County Seat : Obion County

Population 2000: 10,876

Major Industrial Employers (2002 #s):

Goodyear Tire : 3500 (current about 2500)

Tyson Foods Processing Plant : 1200- (current I believe closer to 1500)

Lennox (fireplaces) : 500

Kohler (tub/shower enclosers) : 500

CBK Imports : 250

Barkers Brothers Waste : 105

Williams Sausage : 80

Southern Machinery (Machine repair) : 61

Griffen Industry : 55

Union City, along with Dyersburg, Humboldt, Milan, Paris (has seen substantial industrial losses), and Lexington, are by far the largest industrial centers in West Tennessee outside of Jackson. Goodyear though being Union and paying union wages and benefits adds a lot of economic weight to the local economy that is probably not matched in the its peers outside industries found in Jackson (which of course is not its peer).

For a complete list of employers and community data visit the state Economic and Community Develop page for Union City, the source of this data:

http://www.state.tn.us/ecd/datasheets/union%20city.pdf

Enough data

[Kyle]

It looks like Union City has a pretty nice downtown from here. It's kinda a little bit of a shame that I have never been to their DT.

[fieldmarshaldj]

ARGH ! Covered-up front facades ! They ALL need to go ! Restore those outer beauties hiding under that junk !

[sleepy]

Union City, along with Dyersburg, Humboldt, Milan, Paris (has seen substantial industrial losses), and Lexington, are by far the largest industrial centers in West Tennessee outside of Jackson. Goodyear though being Union and paying union wages and benefits adds a lot of economic weight to the local economy that is probably not matched in the its peers outside industries found in Jackson (which of course is not its peer).

Nice pics.

Glad to hear the area is doing well economically. I wonder why East Arkansas (until lately), as well as the Delta area of north Mississippi outside of the immediate Memphis area hasn't been able to duplicate that. All those areas are similar, yet rural east AR and rural north MS lag far behind rural west TN economically, at least in my perception. If I were some MS development person, I think I'd pay a visit.

[Rural King]

^ Rural NW Tennessee did very well in the 70s-80s like the rest of the state, the mid-late 90s to the present though has seen some harder times come to the region in regards to attracting and retaining industrial jobs. We have not seen alot of big-time industrial growth for 10-15 years and actually have seen some substantial losses some of these towns. The wages in alot of plants are not as high as might be desired either, but there a few big plants that do pay well. So we were lucky to get a decent industrial base back when things were good and are able to be as well off as we are, not sure why our neighboring regions were not as able to do the same.

The region though needs an ecnonomic stimulus, since we haven't seen alot of industrial growth in the region in awhile. Alot of counties are very proactive currently in trying to lure new industry, and our ever improving infrastructure (es. I-69, Cates Landing, the Crockett Co. site) will hopefully draw some new substantial plants to the region in the future.

[sleepy]

^ Rural NW Tennessee did very well in the 70s-80s like the rest of the state, the mid-late 90s to the present though has seen some harder times come to the region in regards to attracting and retaining industrial jobs. We have not seen alot of big-time industrial growth for 10-15 years and actually have seen some substantial losses some of these towns. The wages in alot of plants are not as high as might be desired either, but there a few big plants that do pay well. So we were lucky to get a decent industrial base back when things were good and are able to be as well off as we are, not sure why our neighboring regions were not as able to do the same.

The region though needs an ecnonomic stimulus, since we haven't seen alot of industrial growth in the region in awhile. Alot of counties are very proactive currently in trying to lure new industry, and our ever improving infrastructure (es. I-69, Cates Landing, the Crockett Co. site) will hopefully draw some new substantial plants to the region in the future.

At least West Tennessee hasn't taken the route of "catfish processing plants" with their $5.15/hr. wages like the Mississippi Delta. I guess that's what I meant. Other than the Viking appliance plant in Greenwood MS, I don't know of any manufacturing base at all in the Delta.

Now the Arkansas Delta's picking up nicely with the automotive industry, though I still think it has a long way to go to get up to the income/wage levels of West Tennessee.

EDIT: just for fun, I did an income thing with the census:

Median family income 2000 census

Crittenden County, Arkansas (West Memphis) 34,982

Mississippi County, Arkansas (Blytheville) 32,648

St. Francis County, Arkansas (Forrest City) 30,324

Coahoma County, Mississippi (Clarksdale) 26,640

Dyer County, Tennessee (Dyersburg) 39,848

Gibson County, Tennessee (Humboldt)39,318

Henry County, Tennessee (Paris) 35,836

Obion County, Tennessee (Union City) 40,533

[Rural King]

Those Tennessee NWTN counties are definately more affluent than many of the others in West Tennessee, esp. some compared to counties in WTN or in the greater region. Look at West KY, they have some counties, in particular its MS river counties, that are in REALLY bad shape.

[HABANERO7]

Other than Jackson, Ripley, and Memphis I have not been to any other locations in W Tennessee. I've always wanted to swing up that way checking out areas like Dyersburg, Paris, Martin, and Union City... Thanks for those great pics...

Maybe in the near future I can make a weekend roadtrip to check out the only corner of the state I havent been to.

[Rural King]

@Habenero7- I have a Dyersburg thread up from in August if you want to see that town. Here is the link:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=14846

I have the new pics for Martin and Paris to post in the future, and just Saturday took some Jackson pics.

At some point I'll get around to posting pics of Alamo and Brownsville...and if I ever buy a new scanner I can scan my pics of Ripley, Covington, and some old ones of Jackson I never got around to scanning and posting.

[rocket9561]

@Habenero7- I have a Dyersburg thread up from in August if you want to see that town. Here is the link:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=14846

I have the new pics for Martin and Paris to post in the future, and just Saturday took some Jackson pics.

At some point I'll get around to posting pics of Alamo and Brownsville...and if I ever buy a new scanner I can scan my pics of Ripley, Covington, and some old ones of Jackson I never got around to scanning and posting.

Poor Martin, for a college town you would really think it could do better. I don't know if you heard, but UTM was the fastest growing university in the state last year. Maybe that could brings more of an economic boom to that area.

[Rural King]

^ I'm going off topic: The City of Martin is just now looking at long range plans to work with the county to lure some industrial expansion. The University has allowed the city to not have to worry about industrial or commercial expansion for years, but now other cities and counties nearby are becoming proactive and getting stuff, and the local citizens are asking why Martin can't do the same, which was a major article in the Weakly County Press this week. Until recently there simply hasn't been any pressure for the city to be all that pro-active, I mean heck the industrial recruiter position in town is, and has been, empty for a while, so they must not have be too worried about it until recently. The city has done well in the past though, when Hubble Lighting went out a couple years ago they filled that factory with Greenball Tire in about a year, which was quite impressive, although it does not emply nearly as many people as Hubble did, its still not empty which is the main thing.

Martin though is by far one of the best towns to in which to live in West Tennessee IMO. Good city services, affordable and good housing stock, well ran government, decent access to dining and shopping options (albeit not what you might expect in a college town like Martin), a great theatre, sidewalks (easy town to walk around), of course all the amentities to theatre/movies/education/etc the University offers, etc etc. Martin is a great place to live, could it be better sure, but it isn't all that bad now, which I know rocket was not implying.

I think Martin will get going here soon and work with the county to lure more things to Martin as far as industry and commercial ventures go. The new SuperCenter (uck!!!) as much as I don't like Wal-Mart will help keep college kids shopping in town and help lure new shopping and dining options that until now Union City has had the big advantage in.

On UT-Martin: I don't know if I had heard that Martin was the fastest growing in the state before rocket, I know I had heard enrollment was way up in both undergrad and grad programs, so that is an interesting fact. Thats really good news! They are buiding all new dorms/apartments for resident students and planning hopefully to build a recreational center, since UT-Martin is the only state 4-year school without one, so thats just more to lure and retain students to the campus. There are lots of positive things going on with the University thats for sure. I'm glad to see them too!