ORANGE — The group dedicated to breathing new life into “The Friendly Town” has completed its Orange Historical Walking Map brochure project to help residents and visitors alike better appreciate the area’s past.
The Orange Revitalization Partnership started the project, inspired by its president and former state Rep. Denise Andrews, in 2018, and welcomed a handful of people who explored Orange’s central downtown area, plotted out a pathway and picked which historical buildings to include in the brochure, ultimately deciding on structures relevant to the Industrial Revolution.
“I think there are a lot of people in town who don’t know the history and so it would be a good thing to have,” said Janice Lanou, retired director of the Wheeler Memorial Library, who was involved with the project from the beginning. “I am very happy with it. We’ve got a lot of information in there.”
Lanou worked with Kathy Schiappa, president of the Orange Historical Society, and Ann Miller, Orange Revitalization Partnership board member. Pamela and Pennie Smith, Orange Revitalization Partnership board members, joined the project the next year in 2019.
The brochure consists of a map with 17 landmarks and information about each one, as well as the town itself.
Miller explained the partnership volunteers divvied up and researched the sites.
“It was actually amazing, in the sense of going back into history,” she said. “We used newspapers through the (Wheeler Memorial) Library to get a lot of the information and then we had to pare it all down. We still have copies of the information that we got from the different newspapers.”
Among the landmarks featured in the map are the Orange National Bank at 12 North Main St., the Dr. Mahar House at 1 High St., and Memorial Park at the corner of South Main and Depot streets.
According to the brochure, Orange National Bank began in May 1875 and its spot is now home to Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op, while the Dr. Mahar House was built in 1855 in the Italianate Victorian style and was originally the home of Rodney Hunt Machine Company’s founder.
In 1914, Dr. Harold Mahar and his family moved into the Hunt house, where he set up his practice. He became the local medical examiner and his son, state Sen. Ralph C. Mahar, was significant in the development of the regional school system in Massachusetts.
Memorial Park was created following a town vote in 1919. Its center features a 12-foot bronze statue dedicated on Memorial Day 1934 for all Orange residents who served in World War I. It was sketched by the Rev. Wallace Fiske, minister of the Universalist church, and created by New York sculptor Joseph Pollia. Since 2000 it has been the official Massachusetts Peace Statue.
Miller explained information for each historical building had to be abbreviated due to the limited space allotted to each site within the brochure, though longer histories are expected to be made available to the public in the future.
Miller and Lanou said the Orange Revitalization Partnership connected with Ryan Clary, a senior GIS specialist with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), who plotted out the map of downtown Orange, designating the different sites. The Smiths fine-tuned the structure and content of the brochure, which was printed by The Highland Press in Athol.
Brochures will be available at Wheeler Memorial Library, Orange Town Hall, the Orange Historical Society, Trail Head Outfitters & General Store, and the Orange Revitalization Partnership office in the Orange District Court building.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.