History · Orange

Orange dates to 1815

More historic than 37% of U.S. towns · #780 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

Most of Orange was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1906 on and the census since 1930.

1815founded

0on the National Register

4%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Photo: SilentMatt Psychedelic · CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick answers

How Orange began

When was Orange founded?

1815

Orange dates its founding to 1815 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1930.

First census: 266 in 19302020 census: 3,421211 years

How historic is Orange?

C⁺

More historic than 37% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1832.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Orange’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orange is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #780 of 993 in Ohio. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Orange’s overall grade.

Founding era1815, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19404.1% of homes (±2.6) · typical OH town 14.5% · U.S. 8.4%C National RegisterNo listings counted · typical OH town 2.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 37%

NewerOlder

Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)Ahead of 21%

Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Orange’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1815.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Orange’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Orange are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19066 editions of the USGS map, 1906 to 1994. Watch Orange change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1815: 211 years of Orange.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Orange’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orange’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the map

Orange on the map, 1906 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orange. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1906Chagrin Falls sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Orange.

Timeline

Orange, 1815 to 1981

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1815
FoundingOrange is established
1832Post officeThe Barry post office opens
1891Post officeThe Orange post office opens
1899Post officeThe Barry post office closes
20th century
1903Post officeThe Orange post office closes
1906On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1981Born hereVanessa Bayer is born here

The story

How Orange came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Orange.

Read it all →

Orange Township was settled in 1815 and established as a township in 1820. As part of the settlement of the Connecticut Western Reserve, Serenus Bumett was the first settler in the township. The name "Orange" was chosen because several of the early settlers had migrated from Orange, Connecticut. In 1831, Orange Township was the birthplace of President James A. Garfield. However, since then, Orange Township has been divided into five parts. These are Orange Village, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Pepper Pike and Woodmere. Garfield's birth and early childhood occurred in modern-day Moreland Hills.

Orange Village, the southwest quadrant of the original township, was incorporated as a village in 1929.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Orange in 1879

Passages that mention Orange, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The only residents of the present township of Orange which he found at that time, were the families of Jesse Kimball, Eufus Parsons, John White and Theron White, all being on tlie high ground in the north part of the township. These families had been there at least one year at that time, and some o… — **History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. With portraits and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers**1879 · page 492Read the page →
Read the text
The only residents of the present township of Orange which he found at that time, were the families of Jesse Kimball, Eufus Parsons, John White and Theron White, all being on tlie high ground in the north part of the township. These families had been there at least one year at that time, and some of them he thinks two years; which is the reason why we fix the year 1816 as the probable date of the first settle-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

ten, of the Western Reserve, the greater part of which is now conijjrised in the civil township of Orange. The first who located himself in townshiji ten, was Sereniis Burnet, who settled on the Chagrin river in 1815, but he was in that part which has since been included in the township of Cliagrin… — **History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio ..**1879 · page 494Read the page →
Read the text
ten, of the Western Reserve, the greater part of which is now conijjrised in the civil township of Orange. The first who located himself in townshiji ten, was Sereniis Burnet, who settled on the Chagrin river in 1815, but he was in that part which has since been included in the township of Cliagrin Falls.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

east of the line of Franklin street, in the village of that name, was in the town of Eussell, in Geauga county, while the portion west of that line was in Orange, Cuyahoga county, except a small tract in the southwest corner of the village, which was in Solon, in the same county. The land in Geauga… — **History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. With portraits and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers**1879 · page 436Read the page →
Read the text
east of the line of Franklin street, in the village of that name, was in the town of Eussell, in Geauga county, while the portion west of that line was in Orange, Cuyahoga county, except a small tract in the southwest corner of the village, which was in Solon, in the same county. The land in Geauga county was owned by Aristarchus Champion, of Rochester, New York,* while that of Orange was the property of Gen.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

east of the line of Franklin street, in the village of that name, was in the town of Rnssell, in Geauga county, while the portion west of that line was in Orange, Cuyahoga county, except a small tract in the southwest corner of the village, wbich was in Solon, in the same county. The land in Geauga… — **History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio ..**1879 · page 426Read the page →
Read the text
east of the line of Franklin street, in the village of that name, was in the town of Rnssell, in Geauga county, while the portion west of that line was in Orange, Cuyahoga county, except a small tract in the southwest corner of the village, wbich was in Solon, in the same county. The land in Geauga county was owned by Aristarchus Champion, of Rochester, New York,* while that of Orange was the property of Gen.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Orange, decade by decade

Today5 recent

2025Orange 8-3-25 thumbnail IMG 1

2016Brainard Road

Map of Cuyahoga County Ohio Highlighting Orange Village

2015Map of Cuyahoga County Ohio Highlighting Orange Villa…Map

2006Orange-CuyahogaCoOH

2004OHMap-doton-Orange

People over time

Orange, census by census

Grew from 266 people in 1930 to 3,421 in 2020, more than tenfold.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Orange’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Orange had its own post office from 1891 to 1903. Another post office, Barry, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Barry

1832–1899

Orange

1891–1903

18301930today

Gone or out of use

Orange Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Moreland HillsIts storyB⁻Warrensville HeightsIts storyD Beachwood2 historic placesC WoodmereIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Pepper PikeIts storyD

Questions about Orange’s history

What year was Orange founded?

In 1815, according to Wikidata. Orange’s post office opened in 1832, and the census of 1930 counted 266 people here.

How does Orange rank for history?

Orange is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #780 of 993 in Ohio. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Orange?

4% of Orange’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1981.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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