Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #46 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Orange was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. 12 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 66 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1870.
Orange dates its founding to 1834 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orange is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #46 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Virginia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Virginia town has 3.6 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Orange’s 170 sits above most of its state (76% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 86 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1905Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Orange.
This area of the Piedmont was occupied by Siouan-speaking peoples at the time of European encounter. Tribes located in coastal areas generally spoke Algonquian languages.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Orange, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The freeholders were required to meet at Germanna on that day and there " elect and choose twelve of the most able and discreet persons of their parish to be vestrymen." When Orange was established, just four years later, the dividing line between these parishes was made the boundary line between Orange and Spotsylvania, so it becomes necessary to determine what that line was. It is manifest that Orange never
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to camp; to James Coleman, for supplies impressed by- William Thomas, commanding officer of guard at Brock's Bridge; to William Morton, for wagon impressed for Orange militia from August 17 to October 31, 1781, and for a wagon impressed at Guilford courthouse, North Carolina, October, 1781, by order of General Stevens ; to Zachary Herndon, for wagon with Orange militia 27 days, October and November, 1781, and to same in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Orange. The house (see engravmg), the oldest in Orange coiintj', is j-et in an excellent state of preservation. It is built of wood, one and a half stories high, with dormer windows in the roof and having two large brick chimneys, in which are huge oldfashioned fire-places. A portico with four columns adorns its front. Ever}- nail used was wrought by a blacksmith. Inside, it is quite pretentious, the walls
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereThornton A. Jenkins is born here
Born hereJames Taliaferro is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveLarge dairy barn near
In the archiveHare Forest Farm, Orange County, VA2 decades in the archive, from the 1980s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2020Old Manse lawn
2017A house
2016Orange, VA 22960, USA
2016Orange, VA 22960, USA - panoramio - Idawriter
2016Orange, VA 22960, USA - panoramio - Idawriter (1)
20167-Eleven
20162016-07-31 15 03 40 View of Orange, Orange County, Vi…
2013Popularized the Banjo Joel Walker Sweeney buried
2012James and Dolley Madison Statue at Montpelier
2011Orange County, VA, Historical Society Bldg. IMG 4279
2010Orange, VA 22960, USA - panoramio (2)
2010Orange, VA 22960, USA - panoramio (17)
2010Orange, VA 22960, USA - panoramio (15)
2010Orange, VA 22960, USA - panoramio (14)
2010Montpelier and Madison's Tomb historical marker
2009OrangeCountyHigh
2008Train Depot
2007Talk Sbout Signs!
2007Lets Go Our Separate WaysEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orange. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Orange.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Orange’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 731 people in 1870 to 4,880 in 2020, 6 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Orange’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Orange’s post office has been open since 1890. Another post office, Orange Courthouse, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1834, according to Wikidata. Orange’s post office opened in 1795, and the census of 1870 counted 731 people here.
Orange is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #46 of 253 in Virginia. 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.
12 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Mayhurst (listed 1969, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Orange Commercial Historic District and the Old Manse, with 66 contributing buildings. 86 historic buildings in all.
7% of Orange’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1978.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (21), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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