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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
ORANGE (170 alt., 35,399 pop.) adjoins East Orange to the west and is the problem mother of all the other Oranges. As her offspring broke away they became so prosperous that Orange is now a poor relation whose behavior is sometimes a matter of family concern. Because its location in the valley of the Watchungs lacks the scenic beauty of the newer towns, the city has failed to achieve their social and financial eminence. Though often snubbed for teas and dinners, Orange sits in at all family conclavesbut not as matriarch.
Smallest in area of the five communities, Orange's inability to grow in any direction helps to explain its cultural and social lag. Its continued leadership in industry has earned it the largest Negro and foreign populations of any of the suburbs.
Orange was settled in 1678 with the aristocratic name of the Mountain Plantations. It is believed to have been afterward renamed in honor of William, Prince of Orange, who became William III of England. Up to the Revolution, Orange farmers were noted for their resistance to the Colonial government and were quick in 1776 to come down from the mountains to fight the British. After the war the governing Presbyterians characteristically turned to education, founding an academy in 1785 and a public library in 1793.
The industrial revolution brought the shoe industry to Orange, where it flourished as the leading manufacture until a decade after the Civil War. When it began to wane under competition from New England, it was replaced by hat manufacturing, for which the town was renowned until the turn of the century. Since that time Orange has been a center for electrical supplies, drugs and calculating machines.
Concentrated on Main Street, the business district of Orange has the air of a neighborhood shopping area of a large city. Stores are old and rather small and tend toward "bargain centers." Into them pour the factory workers from homes along the side streets. Like nearby Newark, Orange has the commission form of government, and its civic history under this form has been less happy than the administrations of the other Oranges and Maplewood.
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