In 1880 the town was platted, and on September 27 renamed Seligman in honor of Joseph Seligman, a wealthy railroad financier who had died the previous April. On March 8, 1881, the town was incorporated. In choosing the name Seligman, the residents recognized that the arrival of the railroad had been a great boon to the small settlement. Apparently as an act of gratitude, Mr. Seligman's widow, Babet Seligman, gave the community $500 and one acre of land towards the building of a church. Together with $300 raised locally, Benjamin McCann constructed the Union Church in 1884. The church still stands and was in continuous use by various Protestant denominations from the time it was built until 1959.