UNION CITY, MI (WTVB) – The Union City Village Council formally began the planning on Monday night for the Riley Dam’s 100 year celebration.
Called “100 Dam Years”, the celebration is set to take place sometime in the summer of 2023.
More details about the celebrations will be announced at a later time.
According a post on the village’s Facebook page, the official grand opening of the dam took place on July 29th, 1923.
There was a week long celebration surrounding the dam official opening on the St. Joseph River.
It was thought at the time that the cost of electricity produced by burning coal was getting to be to expensive. The hydroelectrical plant was suggested as a means to deliver cheaper electricity to Union City.
The backwater that formed behind the dam was known as Municipal Pond and eventually it was named Union Lake.
Union Lake had to be lowered three feet about a year ago so that Grand River Construction could rehabilitate the dam’s concrete and catwalk.
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