Union, IL

Union is a McHenry County village northwest of Chicago, incorporated in 1897. The 2020 census counted 551 residents. A post office has operated here since 1852, but the village's modern reputation comes from rail preservation: the Illinois Railway Museum occupies a large campus in Union and calls itself America's largest rail museum. Its operating exhibits and restored equipment bring full-size railroad history into the village's present-day life. The museum's collection includes locomotives, cars, streetcars, and other equipment from American railroads.

Union's local civic map includes the museum, the McHenry County Historical Society & Museum on Main Street, and village hall. The historical society preserves county artifacts, buildings, and records, while the railway museum runs trains and educational programs. Summer operating days, rides, and special events put that collection on the same schedule as the village's civic calendar. Union remains a small municipal place with a much larger historical footprint than its population suggests, and the two museums give the village its clearest connection to the wider region.