TOWN OF ORANGE

 The town of Orange, Massachusetts is situated in Franklin County in the western part of the state, 86 miles from Boston.  It is a typical example of a small town.  What is particularly noticeable to a visitor to the town is the high character of its citizenship, its freedom from rowdyism and the intelligence and thrift of the people.  With the good schools, churches, library, fire department, water supply, fraternal organizations, banking facilities, etc., it is an ideal town to live in.  The residences are neat and attractive.  The District of Orange was incorporated October 15, 1783.  Orange was changed to a town in 1810.  In 1789 the town was divided into five school districts and had a population of 116 families.  In 1800 the population was 766, in 1850 it was 1701, the increase being due somewhat to the annexation, in 1847, of the north part of New Salem and all that part of Erving’s grant that lay between Fall Hill on the east and the present east line of the town of Erving on the west.  During the sixty years, from 1780 to 1840, Orange was a farming town.  Saw-mills, fulling mills, tanneries, blacksmith shops, grist-mills, a brick yard, a pottery, wagon shops, all were found within the limits of the town, but were small, and all were run subsidiary to the farmers.  Even as late as 1840 the mechanics would leave their shops in July and go out on the farms haying.

Except the sharp, knife-like ridge of Fall Hill, in the westerly part of the town, and the mound-like mass of Tully Mountain in the northeast, Orange is largely made up of broad –backed swells of upland, rising in places to hills of considerable altitude separated by low-lying intervals and meadows.

 From the first settlement of the town to 1837 there was comparatively little manufacturing in town.  The principal works were erected on the dam which James Holmes built across the river in 1790.  Very soon after the erection of this dam the power was utilized for a saw-mill, a grist-mill, a fulling-mill, a blacksmith and a scythe shop.  In later years industries were started which are at present very prosperous, whose products have a world-wide reputation and their high and stable character has made the steady growth of Orange possible.