Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Orange, Massachusetts

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Orange town. It lies in ZIP code area 01364. It stands on Fall Hill Brook. The Survey maps it on the Orange quadrangle. 3,636 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 512 feet above sea level.

Orange within Franklin County

Population over time

2 figures

Orange fell from 4,018 to 3,636 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	4,018
2020	3,636	-382 (-10%)

Then and now

1887 to 1990

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Orange, surveyed 1990

Topographic sheet of Orange, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

32 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires nearby

25 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 25 fires within 5 miles of Orange between 2015 and 2020, burning about 8 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	15
Smoking	4
Recreation and ceremony	3
Natural	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Railroad operations and maintenance	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
28 September 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 August 2020	Natural	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
18 June 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
17 June 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 June 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 May 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
20 May 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
2 May 2018	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 325 shown

Museums hold 325 specimens collected within 10 miles of Orange between 1856 and 1975: 130 Fungi, 102 Animalia, 93 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Cronquist, A. M. Ottley, A. S. Goodale, S.F. Potsubay and F.R. St.John and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Dryopteris intermedia (Muhl. ex Willd.) A.Gray	1896	Leonard, F.E.	Northfield.
Pyxine sorediata (Ach.) Mont.	1856	Charles C. Frost
Teucrium canadense var. canadense	1873	not recorded
Athyrium filix-femina var. angustum (Willd.) G.Lawson	1876	Harris, M.E.	Mount Loby
Calla palustris L.	1880	G. H. Leland	Northfield Mountain
Rhododendron canadense (L.) Torr.	1880	G. H. Leland
Cetraria Ach., 1803	1881	not recorded	Northfield
Aspidium acrostichoides (Michx.) Sw.	1886	Ross, Edith A.	New Salem
Aspidium noveboracense (L.) Sw.	1886	Ross, Edith A.	New Salem
Baptisia tinctoria (L.) R.Br.	1886	Ross, Mrs. J. W.	New Salem
Caliciopsis pinea Peck	1928	Hansbrough J. R.	Athol
Catostomus commersonii (Lacepède, 1803)	1928	CL & LC Hubbs	Trib. of Miller's River, South Athol, NW border of Worcester Co., below a dam-pond, above res.; Connecticut system

All 325 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 26 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 26 workings within 5 miles of Orange: 11 occurrences, 8 past producers, 4 producers, 3 prospects. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Mica, Mica, Feldspar, Feldspar. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Almandine - Garnet Occurance	Gemstone, Garnet	Occurrence	Metamorphic
Almandine-Garnet Occurance	Garnet	Occurrence
Granite Quarry	Stone, Dimension	Occurrence
Granite Quarry	Granite	Past Producer
Talc Quarry	Talc-Soapstone	Producer	Metamorphic
Talc Quarry	Talc-Soapstone	Past Producer
B L Frye Inc	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Frye Pit & Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Town Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Orange Mica Mine	Mica, Feldspar	Occurrence	1940

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms nearby

29 since 1994

The National Weather Service names Orange in 29 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 19 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 lightning, 3 flash flood. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	3 hurt, $20,000	no account filed
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$50,000	At 619 PM EST, multiple trees were reported down on Wheeler Avenue in Orange. \|On Summer Street and on Stone Road, trees were down on houses causing structural damage. A large tree was down on cars on River Street. Power lines were down on East River Street. A tree and utility pole were down on a car in the town hall parking lot. A power pole and wires were down on Prospect Street.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$25,000	Numerous trees and wires were downed throughout Orange.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$15,000	Trees and wires were downed on Route 78, East Road, and East River Street by thunderstorm winds.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$10,000	Trees and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2010	Lightning	Orange	$10,000	Lightning struck a house on Burle Avenue.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$10,000	no account filed
June 2025	Lightning	Orange	$5,000	House struck by lightning on Pleasant Street.
July 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	North Orange	$5,000	The Orange Airport (KORE) recorded a wind gust to 58 mph. A tree and a tree branch were downed on Dukakis Drive. Trees and wires were reported down on East River Road, Wheeler Pond Road, Main Street, North Orange Road, and Town Farm Road.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$5,000	A tree and wires on Royalston Road were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$5,000	A tree on Daniel Shays Highway was downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$5,000	Wires were downed onto a car on Horton Road by thunderstorm winds.
July 1997	Lightning	Orange	$3,000	no account filed
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	$2,000	no account filed
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	West Orange	$800	In Warwick, a tree and wires were down on Hockanum Road.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	North Orange	$500	In Orange, a tree was downed on wires on North Main St.
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	West Orange	$500	In Orange, a tree branch was down on wires on Warwick Road.
June 2025	Flash Flood	North Orange	-	In Orange, Royalston Road had the edges of the road washed out to a foot deep in spots. Many rocks rocks rolled onto the roadway.
June 2025	Flash Flood	Orange	-	East Main street between Water and Mechanic Street was closed due to flooding.
July 2023	Flash Flood	West Orange	-	In Orange, Dexter St had significant flooding.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	-	A tree on Main Street was downed onto a house on Main Street. Amount of damage unknown.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	-	Trees down.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	-	Trees were reported blown down along Route 2.
June 2025	Hail	Orange	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Orange	-	no account filed
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	-	no account filed
July 1996	Hail	Orange	-	no account filed
July 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Orange	-	no account filed
May 1995	Hail	Orange	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Franklin County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
West Orange	1.8 miles	32
Wendell Depot	2.7 miles	32
North New Salem	3.1 miles	32
Morse Village	3.6 miles	32
Stoneville	3.9 miles	32
North Orange	4.0 miles	34
Tully	4.6 miles	36
Erving	4.7 miles	32

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Orange	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7099495	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609456. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.