Union Grove Township got its name from a grove a woods that surrounded a union church where Lyman Allan was a member. He and other settlers first came to this part of Meeker County in 1856, and committee of citizens formally organized the township in 1866. These residents also found the necessity to rule that hogs and sheep could not run loose between April 1 and November 1. The small village of Crow River was the only settlement of note in the township, in which the Jacobson Store at Crow River might be a well-known landmark.