Mount Union developed from several small settlements clustered around a river crossing, canal facilities, roads, stores, and later the railroad. One of those early places was called Santa Fe.
In 1848, James Kelley and Dr. William Brewster built a warehouse along the Pennsylvania Canal, together with a store and tavern a short distance below John Sharrar’s warehouse. According to the 1883 History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, they named the place “Santa Fe.”
The tavern was later identified as the Exchange Hotel at Santa Fe. This was more than an isolated building name: the warehouse, store, tavern, and surrounding activity gave the eastern portion of the growing village a recognizable local identity.
A later local history preserved residents’ recollection that the eastern end of the village was called Santa Fe while the Narrows end was called Mount Union. The account describes a period of rivalry between the two names before Mount Union ultimately became the name associated with the combined community.
Another short-lived settlement name, Clintonville, was associated with the southern end of the canal bridge. These overlapping names show that present-day Mount Union did not emerge as a single, fully formed town. It grew as canal-era settlements and commercial sites gradually joined together.
The 1883 county history records a succession of owners and operators. George W. Speer followed Kelley and Brewster in the Santa Fe business. John W. Smith later purchased the property and sold it to George McLaughlin and John Bare. After their partnership ended, McLaughlin became sole proprietor and sold most of the property to William H. Woods of Huntingdon in 1868.
The tavern was sold separately to William Shaver. By 1883 it was owned by Shaver’s heirs and occupied as a tenant house. A later local history reported that the old warehouse was also used as housing during its declining years and was eventually destroyed by fire.
The historical descriptions place Santa Fe on the bank of the Pennsylvania Canal, below the Sharrar warehouse, in the eastern portion of the developing village. The National Park Service likewise treats Santa Fe as one of several early settlements that contributed to Mount Union’s formation.
Those descriptions are enough to establish the neighborhood’s historical setting, but not enough to attach Santa Fe to a specific present-day building or parcel. A precise modern marker should wait for comparison of the 1840 survey, canal maps, deeds, and later property records.