About the Union Lake Business Area

The business community of Union Lake is situated essentially along the Union Lake and Cooley Lake Road traffic corridors of four townships: Commerce, West Bloomfield, Waterford and White Lake. They all abut at Cooley Lake and Williams Lake roads.

According to  the 1970 Oakland County Book of History, the identity stems from earlier days when two bodies of water were divided by a land strip wide enough for a road. When the road was eventually removed, the combined waterway was officially dubbed Union Lake.

The Union Lake business community came about as a result of the establishment of several small businesses at the intersection of Union Lake and Cooley Lake roads. They were originally established to meet the growing needs of the area’s residents who owned summer cottages.

Over the years, more and more people found the area to be a desirable place in which to live year round, to raise families, to conduct business and enjoy a more rural, and  less stressful lifestyle.

Eventually, a branch bank and post office were constructed in the slowly growing Union Lake Business Community. As a result of this, along with the creation of a local business association and the zoning and planning activities in the four townships, the number of local businesses increased to meet the growing needs of the surrounding township residents.

In the early 1970s, the local business association and the Walled Lake Chamber of Commerce merged to become the Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce. In the 1980s, the chamber brought together a group of local business owners and managers, representatives of the four townships, the Oakland County Planning Division and a private planning consultant (paid for by the four townships) to develop a vision and plan for the future of the Union Lake business community. One result of the Union Lake plan was that the planning commissioners of the four townships developed a uniform Union Lake Business District zoning designation with common zoning and signage regulations. Each of the townships adopted these as a part of their local ordinances.

In 1991, the United States Postal Service reduced its Union Lake branch operation window service and post office boxes. Local delivery was consolidated in several neighboring post office branches and new zip codes were designated for each of the four townships.

Today, the Union Lake Business District is a thriving area which meets the needs of the growing numbers of people who have chosen to call the area “home.” The Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce continues to serve the many merchants in this unique area as it has for the past 30+ years.