History of Orange, Massachusetts, USA

Orange, Massachusetts
Franklin county. Orange lies 72 miles W. from Boston and 20 E. from Greenfield. Incorporated, 1783. Population, 1830, 880; 1837, 1,543. The manufactures of the town consist of iron castings, boots, shoe pegs, chairs and cabinet ware: annual amount about $40,000. Miller's river affords the town a good water power, and Tully hill a fine prospect. The soil is uneven, and better fitted for grazing than tillage. There is a pleasant village in the town, and a good fish pond.

Orange was originally taken from Warwick, from a tract called Ervingshire, and from Athol and Royalston, in Worcester county. The surface of the town is uneven, and fitted for grazing.

The north part of New Salem has lately been added to Orange, so that Miller's River, that used to bound the town at the south, now runs nearly through its centre, aflording good water privileges.

The manufactures are various, but not to a great amount; agriculture is the chief business of the inhabitants.

Distance from Greenfield, 20 miles ; from Boston, 75.

This town was incorporated in 1783. The face of the township is generally rough and uneven. Miller’s river, which now passes through the central part of the town, affords valuable water privileges. Mr. Emerson Foster and Mr. Chandler are the only ministers who have been settled over the old church in. Orange, now in the northern section of the town. Mr. Foster was minister here about 1798. Mr. Chandler was in the place but a short time. In 1837 an ecclesiastical council convened and organized a church, called the "Evangelical Church of Orange."

The above is a southern view of the flourishing little village of Orange, now in the central part of the town. Miller's river, which passes through the place, was formerly the southern boundary of Orange. The northern part of New Salem has been quite recently annexed to this town, so that this village is now in the central part. The forests have been recently cleared away in the immediate vicinity, and the place presents the appearance of a...

Orange, a post- village in Franklin co., Massachusetts, on the Vermont and Massachusetts railroad, 70 miles N. W. from Boston. Population of the township, 1701.

Orange is a sprightly manufacturing and farming town occupying the northeastern corner of Franklin County. It is 81 miles northwest of Boston on the Fitchburg Railroad, which follows Miller's River across the town, and has a station at Orange (centre) and one at Wendell, near West Orange. The township is very irregular, its greatest length being north and south. The assessed area is 20,261 acres. Warwick hounds it on the northwest, Royalston on the northeast, Athol on the east arid southeast, New Salem on the south, and Wendell and Erving on the west.

Tully River and Cheney, Orcutt's and Moss brooks, affluents of Miller's River, drain the north part of the town. North Pond, a fine sheet of water in the southern part of the town, is the source of the middle branch of Swift River. The basal rock is calcareous gneiss and granite, which often rises into bold and picturesque elevations, covered with soil well adapted to the growth of timber and for pasturage. Tully Mountain, in the...

Orange, a post-village in Orange township, Franklin co., Mass., on Miller's River, and on the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad, 37 miles W. of Fitchburg, and 19 miles E. of Greenfield. It has a national bank, a savings-bank, several churches, a newspaper office, and manufactures of chairs, sewing-machines, furniture, machinery, water wheels, &c. Pop. of township in 1880, 3169; in 1890, 4568.