Union Market was formally known as Union Terminal Market when it started as a replacement market center for the old Center Market located near the mall in 1931.
It became an important part of the Washington food infrastructure to feed a growing city population. It featured retail and wholesales stores as well as a farmers’ market which ran into trouble with the city in the 1960s due to its failure to comply with sanitation and safety standards. A new building was completed in 1967 to replace it and is today the food hall carrying the name “Union Market”. After falling in disrepair in the 1980s and 1990s, the area is being revived as a hip destination for restaurant and night life near NoMa and H Street. While for many it is a specific building containing the gourmet food hall, it is in fact an area that today features restaurants, a small movie theater, an ice cream factory and new luxury apartment buildings in Northeast Washington, D.C. off of Florida Avenue NE. These new venues are slowly replacing the old stores that had been the heart and soul of the market.