Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Pennsylvania County
Union County, Pennsylvania
Bucknell University and USP Lewisburg's notorious past - from Bucknell University's beautiful Lewisburg campus (one of Pennsylvania's most selective liberal arts universities, enrollment ~3,600, with a stunning hilltop campus overlooking the West Branch Susquehanna and consistently ranked among the top 30 national liberal arts universities) to USP Lewisburg (the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg - one of America's most historically significant federal prisons, housing Al Capone, Jimmy Hoffa, and Whitey Bulger at various points, and the subject of numerous books and films documenting its culture of strict discipline) and Mifflinburg's exceptional carriage-making heritage.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Union County Public Safety / Emergency Management Agency – UC Government Center, 155 N. 15th Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837 | (570) 523-3201 | Fax: (570) 524-8808
Services: All-hazards emergency, terrorism, and disaster planning for public and private facilities; response coordination and support during incidents; part of the North Central Taskforce, a seven-county regional disaster planning entity; offers grant-funded Citizen Corps programs including CERT, ARES/RACES amateur radio, and the Community Animal Response Team (CART); uses a SwiftReach mass-notification system for residents (register at mp.swiftreach.com)
Related: Union County Emergency Services – (570) 523-1113.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-15 and PA-45 serve Lewisburg, the county seat and home to Bucknell University, in central Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River Valley
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: No countywide building department – permits are issued at the MUNICIPAL level, often via the Central Keystone Council of Governments (CK-COG)
Services: CK-COG – 1610 Industrial Boulevard, Suite 400A, Lewisburg, PA 17837, (570) 522-1326, Email: [email protected]; Union County Planning Department – 155 North 15th Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837, (570) 524-8686
Notes: Confirm whether a zoning permit is required for your specific municipality – requirements vary by township.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Union County Veterans Affairs Office – Lewisburg, PA, (570) 524-8676
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Union County Library System – three branches serving the county
Main Branch: The Public Library for Union County – 255 Reitz Boulevard, Lewisburg, PA 17837 | (570) 523-1172 | Hours: Mon/Tue/Thu 9:30 AM–8:30 PM, Wed/Fri/Sat 9:30 AM–5 PM (closed Sun)
Related: Herr Memorial Library – 500 Market Street, Mifflinburg, PA 17844, (570) 966-0831, Hours: Mon–Thu 10 AM–6 PM, Fri 10 AM–4 PM, Sat 9 AM–4 PM; West End Library – 45 Ball Park Road, Laurelton, PA 17835, (570) 922-4773, Hours: Tue–Fri 8:30 AM–6 PM (closed Mon).
Services: Free public access to reading and research resources, internet, wifi, and meeting rooms at no charge
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Union County’s borough of Mifflinburg is genuinely and historically Pennsylvania’s “BUGGY CAPITAL,” a major national center for the manufacturing of horse-drawn carriages, wagons, and sleighs during the second half of the 19th century; the town, founded in 1792 and named for Thomas Mifflin, Pennsylvania’s first governor under the 1790 state constitution, sat directly on the main turnpike lines connecting the county from east to west, a natural advantage for a carriage-building industry; between 1841 and 1924, Mifflinburg was home to as many as 75 independently owned buggy shops, which at their collective peak around 1900 manufactured roughly 6,000 vehicles annually for a national market – earning the town comparisons to being “the Detroit of horse-drawn vehicles”; the prosperity of the buggy boom funded the construction of many of Mifflinburg’s grand Victorian-era mansions, still visible today on the town’s historic walking tour, which also passes the former A.A. Hopp Carriage Company, the old Pennsylvania Railroad Depot, and the Young-Barber Steam Gristmill; the industry’s decline came swiftly with the rise of the automobile in the early 20th century, as consumers shifted decisively away from horse-drawn transportation; today, the William A. Heiss House and Buggy Shop, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979 and operated by the William Heiss family from 1883 to 1920, survives as the Mifflinburg Buggy Museum – genuinely recognized as the only intact, unaltered 19th-century carriage factory still standing in the entire United States; visitors can tour the original Heiss family home, the reconstructed carriage house, and the actual buggy factory itself, complete with period carriages, wagons, sleighs, tools, and an original showroom displaying roughly 25 restored horse-drawn vehicles
Notes: Mifflinburg’s genuine, extensively documented status as Pennsylvania’s historic “Buggy Capital” – anchored by the only surviving intact 19th-century carriage factory in the country – is one of the most distinctive pieces of American transportation-manufacturing heritage found anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Union County GIS – accessible via unioncountypa.org
Parcel Search: Union County Assessment Office
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Union County Public Safety / Emergency Management Agency
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: No confirmed dedicated county-run animal shelter identified for Union County, PA
Notes: This is a genuine, honestly-flagged service gap. IMPORTANT NAMING TRAP – an “Animal Control – Union County” page (gearupunionsc.com) that appears in search results is actually located in Union County, SOUTH CAROLINA, an entirely different jurisdiction; do not confuse it with Union County, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania SPCA (PSPCA), headquartered in Philadelphia, lists coverage extending into this region; nearby regional resources include Perry County Animal Rescue and Centre County PAWS.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – dep.pa.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Union County’s borough of Mifflinburg is genuinely and historically Pennsylvania’s “Buggy Capital,” home today to the only intact 19th-century carriage factory surviving anywhere in the United States. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Union County
Union County is central Pennsylvania’s university and federal prison county – a West Branch Susquehanna River community whose selective liberal arts institution and notorious federal penitentiary define an unlikely institutional pairing.
Lewisburg (the county seat, population ~5,700) hosts both Bucknell University and USP Lewisburg within a few miles of each other. Bucknell’s 450-acre campus overlooking the Susquehanna is among the most beautiful in Pennsylvania. The federal penitentiary – opened 1932 in a distinctive Art Deco style – housed Al Capone (briefly), Jimmy Hoffa (1967-1971), and Whitey Bulger before his transfer and subsequent murder in 2018.
Mifflinburg (population ~3,500) was historically known as “Buggy Town” – its carriage and buggy manufacturers produced vehicles shipped throughout the eastern United States in the 19th century. The Mifflinburg Buggy Museum preserves this heritage.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Union County Assessment Office at 103 S. Second Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837, phone 570-524-8621. Appeal to Board of Assessment Appeals.
Courts & Legal
Union County Register of Wills at 103 S. Second Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837, phone 570-524-8631, handles probate.
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Union County Register of Wills, Lewisburg – all estate records from 1813 to present are microfilmed for easier public/attorney access (see Probate section above).
Bucknell University’s library system in Lewisburg holds significant regional historical resources.
Local societies
No dedicated Union County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Register of Wills, Union County Union County Courthouse, 103 South 2nd Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837 (570) 524-8762 Union County is in central Pennsylvania, seated in Lewisburg – home to Bucknell University.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Pennsylvania has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Probate runs through its own statute, the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries (PEF) Code, Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. Probate begins at the Register of Wills – an elected county official – in the county where the decedent lived. Routine, uncontested probate happens entirely at the Register of Wills; only disputes escalate to the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas.
Small Estate Petition (20 Pa.C.S. § 3102) – available when the estate’s personal property (excluding real estate) totals $50,000 or less. This lets an interested party petition the Orphans’ Court directly for approval of a proposed distribution, skipping the need to formally open a full probate estate. Real property is never covered by this simplified process.
Formal Probate – required for estates exceeding $50,000 in personal property, or for any estate involving real property that needs to pass through probate. The Register of Wills validates the will (if any) and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative files with the Register of Wills in Union County, along with the original will if one exists.
The Register of Wills reviews and, if in order, issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative gathers assets, notifies heirs and known creditors, and begins settling the estate.
Pennsylvania has a one-year creditor period running from the date of death, not from any published notice.
A Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return (REV-1500) must be filed with the Register of Wills, regardless of estate size. Checks for probate/filing fees are payable to “Union County Register of Wills”; inheritance tax checks are payable to “Union County Register of Wills, Agent.”
Once debts, taxes, and expenses are settled, remaining assets are distributed according to the will or Pennsylvania’s intestacy laws, and the estate is closed.
What it costs
Filing fees vary; check with Union County directly for current fees.
Pennsylvania has NO separate state estate tax, but its INHERITANCE TAX applies to virtually every estate: 0% to a surviving spouse (and to a parent inheriting from a child 21 or younger), 4.5% to children and other lineal descendants, 12% to siblings, and 15% to everyone else. No dollar exemption.
A 5% early-payment discount applies if paid within 3 months of death; the return and payment are otherwise due within 9 months.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTER OF WILLS
155 North 15th St, Lewisburg, PA 17837
(570) 524-8681
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
155 North 15th St, Lewisburg, PA 17837
(570) 524-8730
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
155 North 15th St, Lewisburg, PA 17837
(570) 524-8611
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Human Services
155 North 15th St, Lewisburg, PA 17837
(570) 524-3775
Assistance Office (DHS)
100 North 2nd St, Lewisburg, PA 17837
(570) 524-2201
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Union County Public Health / PA Department of Health regional office – Lewisburg, PA
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
