The charter for the Town of Orange was granted by the State
as of the date of August 11, 1781. The original charter is framed
under glass, and in safe-keeping at the Orange Town Clerk's office.
According to the account of "Orange" written in 1868
by Carlos Carpenter, a native of Orange but living in Barre at
that time, the first settlement in the Town was made by Ensign
Joseph Williams in September 1793 on the South line of the Town,
a farm owned by Horace P. Gale. Prior to this time only hunters,
trappers, soldiers, and captives had passed through this land,
which was then a wilderness and uninhabited by permanent settlers.
However, following the first settlement, in the next two or three
years there were others who arrived, including Major Joseph Thayer,
Christopher Carey, Humphrey and Ephraim Hunt, Gould Camp, John
and Matthew Sloane, Ezra Paine, Ezra Goodale, Abel Skinner, Jabez
Rodgers, and Porter Lord. The Town was organized as of March 9,
1796 at a meeting, warned by Abel Skinner, Justice of the Peace,
and "holden at the house of Joseph Williams." The first
check list of voters who took the freeman's oath was made on September
2, 1800 and contained 30 names of men living in the Town.
The early records of the Town show that all the governing or overseeing
of land grants and changes were decided by the proprietors of
the Township evidently before many people had even settled in
the area. The first hundred acre divisions for land grants in
the Town consisted of 67 original rights and were recorded in
the accounts from the proprietors' Records of Orange, found in
the first book of the Property Records of Orange. These were all
dated at Thetford as of January 5, 1785. Included were grants
for College Right, Grammar School Number 1, English School, Minister
Right, and Parsonage.
The second hundred acre division included 65 individual rights
with five additional for College, Grammar School, English School,
Minister, and Parsonage Rights. These rights were all dated at
Hartford, Windsor County, as of March 6, 1786. All grants were
made for 100 acres of land with five percent allowance for highway.
The entire Township was chartered to "Contain (or comprehend)
the Contents Six Miles Square (6 Miles Square)."
In the book "Vermont Place Names" by Esther Munroe Swift,
she describes Orange as "largely a farming town," that
the top population was reached in 1830 with about 1,000 people
and over 5,000 sheep grazing on the hillsides. Also, "located
almost in the middle of town, the village of Orange had a post
office from 1823 until 1921. East Orange, in the extreme southern
corner, had a post office from 1850 until 1908." She also
states in her book that according to U.S. Coast and Geodetic survey
Maps the tallest peaks in town are Knox Mountain and Butterfield
Mountain both over 3,000 feet tall.
According to Census Bureau figures, the population in Orange was
348 in 1800, so did have an influx of people up until 1830-1850
when the population dropped more or less continuously until 1960.
Then it began to again climb upward, to 752 in 1980 and 915 in
1990.
It seems that one reason for the decline in population was that
the western United States was made more accessible by means of
rivers, roads and railroads, and with open land available for
grazing or farming, many people from the east left the hilly farmland,
such as in Vermont, for more prolific opportunities in the west.
In Perry Merrill's book, Vermont Under Four Flags, he states that
by 1840 about 4,000,000 acres of land had been cleared for agricultural
use in this state. However, from that date until the present time,
the forest area has been increasing, and the picture reversed,
as there are about 4,000,000 acres of forest land in Vermont with
much less open land for farming purposes. The situation is apparent
in the Town of Orange, as there are only a few farms remaining
and actively farming as of 1992.
Much of the land which formerly made up the acreage for operating
a farm has been sold off in smaller pieces for building of private
homes.
According to Town records, the meetings of the town people took
place in private homes or at a school house until 1824 when the
meeting was held at "the meeting house in Orange." The
records indicate that a meeting house was built by the religious
Society sometime between 1800 and 1824, and that it was used as
a common town meeting house for public meetings for several years.
This was located on the village green which was in the area near
where the Orange Center cemetery is situated. It was purchased
by the Town in 1861 and moved to the Market Road (now Route 302),
where it has been located ever since. It was, however, moved further
back from the highway in 1981.
In the early years of the Town, school houses were built in different
districts of the town and families could be changed from one district
to another in order to keep enrollments at a more comparable level.
In 1920 there were seven districts with an enrollment of 312 pupils.
The enrollment in 1844 was up to "409 scholars in 13 districts,"
and the report lists 165 heads of families at that time. In 1905-06,
school enrollment is listed as 122 and in 1930-31 the elementary
schools (Orange Center and East Orange) consisted of 87 pupils,
and there were 20 high school pupils enrolled in five different
high schools. In 1948 the consolidation of schools was further
approved which left only the central school of Orange Center and
the one-room school at East Orange. In 1959 the East Orange school
was closed, extending the centralization of all town schools into
the Orange Center school. In 1990 the total elementary school
enrollment was 125 pupils and the high school enrollment was 54
students, or a total of 179 from the town.
The first meetings for the worship of God were held in the homes
of some of the town residents. In March of 1801 "at a Stated
Place for holding public meetings" it was "voted to
form into a religious Society for the purpose of settling a minister
and for supporting the Gospel." The Town Records indicate
that a Meeting House had been built prior to 1824, and it seems
logical that this is the same one where town meetings were held
and eventually purchased by the town, then moved to Market Road.
Records indicate that a union church was organized for East Orange
in 1823, the first building being erected in 1825 and occupied
alternately by Free Will Baptists and Methodists. This building
burned and another church was built on the same ground in 1850.
This church building burned in December 1887. Construction began
in June 1888 on a new church building, which was completed and
dedicated in 1890. Worship services continue to be held here in
this church building which is noted for the beauty of its design
and appearance.
There are seven cemeteries in the Town, the newest one being "Brook
Haven" which is located near the town hall and clerk's office
on Route 302 in the center of town.
After the first settlers came to Orange, there were several sawmills
and grist mills established where dams were made in the waterways
to provide water power. As a result of clearing trees from the
land for farming purposes, the industries of making potash, pearl
ash, and lye came about. These products were sold or bartered
as needed. In the past, lumbering and local sawmills were an important
industry in Orange, but this work seems to have declined considerably
at the present time.
The raising of the sheep was a flourishing agricultural business
from about 1810-1850, but declined rapidly when sheep herding
in the western states became too competitive.
From 1850-1900 many dairy farms turned to producing butter, eggs,
and cheese. Each family was more or less self supporting with
their means of producing dairy foods, vegetables, to last the
year round, and poultry to supply further means of food. Later
on, the sale of fluid milk and cream became the chief sources
of income for the family. With the introduction of motor transportation
the Town has gradually become a bedroom town where the majority
of workers commute to places of employment outside Town boundaries.
Other industries which were active in the past were a tannery
and shoe cobbler, around 1850; a wheelwright shop and shingle
mill, around 1900; a cabinet and furniture shop, around 1850-1900,
and general stores in Orange Center and East Orange.
Industries listed in 1981 were: a country store, Rt. 302 at junction
of Route 25, an auto body shop, insurance and real estate business,
an antique shop, a used car sales business, firewood and gas product
sales, maple sugar products sales, and about 10 active farms.
Several social organizations and clubs have been active in the
Town and continue to provide opportunities for social interaction,
if desired. These include Orange Grange No. 492, the Friendly
Circle Home Demonstration Club, the School Improvement Club, a
Snowmobile Club, and a Youth Group of the Orange Alliance Church.
The Town Recreation Committee also plans many recreational activities
during each year. A new recreation field has been made with the
help of the Vermont national Guard and is expected to ready for
use in 1992.