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Town Info

Orangeville is a town in south-central Ontario, Canada. Orangeville is one of the furthest municipalities still unofficially considered to be part of the Greater Toronto Area. It is the seat of Dufferin County.

Population Demographics

According to the Canada 2001 Census:
  • Population: 25,248
  • % Change (1996-2001): 17.4
  • Dwellings: 8,746
  • Area (km²): 15.57
  • Density (persons per km²): 1621.5

According to the town's administation, as of December 2005 the town's population was 27,576 persons.

Year Population Growth Rate (%)
1981 13,740 -- --
1986 14,445 705 1.01
1991 17,920 3,475 4.41
1996 21,445 3,525 3.66
2001 25,652 4,208 3.65
2006 30,343 4,690 3.42
2011 35,502 5,159 3.19
2016 41,112 5,610 2.98
2021 47,166 6,053 2.79

History

Before European settlers, Orangeville was thought to be a native hunting ground. No permanent settlements have been identified in the area, but minor burial sites have been discovered.

The first patent of land was issued to Ezekiel Robinson, a land surveyor, on August 7, 1820. The next was issued to Alan Robinet in 1822. Orangeville was founded in 1863, named after Orange Lawrence, a businessman who owned several mills around the village. In 1873, an Act of Incorporation was passed and Orangeville was given town status on January 1, 1874.

The public library, located at Broadway and Mill St, was completed in 1908. Andrew Carnegie, the well-known businesman and philanthropist, provided finacial help for its construction.

Industry

Manufacturing is the town's biggest industry. The industrial sector of Orangeville is primarily located on, and in the viscinity of Centennial Road(located south-west of Broadway).

Transportation

The main intersection in the heart of the town is Broadway (formerly Provincial Highway 9) and First Street. Provinical Highway 10 runs through Orangeville on its east side.

The town has its own public bus system, in addition to be serviced by Go buses.

Infrastructure

Construction of the South Arterial Road, often referred to as the 'Orangeville by-pass', has reached its completion. The road runs from East to West, connecting provincial highways ten and county road 109 (formerly provincial highway nine). Much of the Eastern stretch runs through the Town of Caledon, but officially enters into Orangeville at the Townline Road controlled intersection. When the project was first announced on May 11, 2005 it was touted as the panacea to the commercial truck traffic that conjested both Broadway and Townline Road.

Aecon Construction and Materials Limited was the successful bidder for the Design Build project with a price of $9.8M. The project was completed in conjuction with Brampton-based Armbro Construction, TSH Engineers Architects Planners, Peto MacCallum Limited and Gartner Lee Limited.

Concerns have been raised over the town's sewage treatment facilities, which are located on Townline Road. Many argue that, given the town's growing population, the current facilities must be upgraded or replaced. Despite these demands and the growth of its residential population, the town does not have that tax base to responsibility finance the project. The town has attempted to defer such construction by implimenting a water conservation program that makes use of water usage metering. Further, while the town has achieved a population that legally qualifies it as a city, Orangeville remains incorporated as the Town of Orangeville. If the town is to reincorporate as the City of Orangeville, it would be obliged to build a treatment facility to match. The town's overwhelmingly Conservative and neo-liberal citizenry has impeded development by resisting tax increases. In February 2006, town council struck its proposed budget, one which called for tax increases, opting instead for zero-based budgeting. Given this motion, budget shortfalls are expected to continue until significant tax increases are introduced.

Restaurants

Bars: The Mad Hatter, Mill Street Bistro, TJ's Hanger

Chain Restaurants: Kelsey's, East Side Mario's, Winchester Arms, Montana's Cookhouse, Boston Pizza, Topper's Pizza, 241 Pizza *, Wimpy's.

2 Star: Greystones Inn, Honey's Cafe, The Train Station, Il Corso Restorante,

3 Star: Bluebird Cafe, One Ninety Nine Broadway, Juniper Grill

  • note Don Cherry's Sports Grill is nolonger in operation.

Attractions

Attractions in Orangeville vary and appeal to all ages. There are many bars one can go to in Orangeville. Orangeville has one theatre where plays are shown year round. A place for all ages is Galaxy Cinemas. This is the most popular place to be for the youth. Lazer Maze has just opened on the west side of town. Every Saturday during the summer a farmer's market takes place.

A popular all ages attraction in the heart of Orangeville at Centre Street and Broadway Ave. is Kingpin Bowl, a Family Entertainment Centre which includes a 20 Lane bowling alley, Kosmic Bowling, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, Pool and Redemption Arcades.

Education

There are currently eight public and separate elementary schools in Orangeville: Credit Meadows, Mono Amaranth, Parkinson Centennial, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, St. Andrew's RC, St. Benedict's RC, and St. Peter's RC. Along with these publicly funded schools there are also numerous private schools in the area: Dufferin Area Christian School, Hillcrest Private School, The Maples Independent Country School, Orangeville Christian School, and Trillium Montessori School.

There are two Secondary Schools located within the boundaries of Orangeville: Westside Secondary School and Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS). Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School is located about 20 minutes away in Caledon East.

Humber College has begun construction on a new campus that is set to be completed in Spring 2006. The 28-acre site, located on Veteran's Way, is expetced to begin offering programs to students as soon as January 2007. Upon opening, the campus is expected to accommodate up to 800 students, expanding to 2,000 by 2017. Until the Humber campus is completed, there is only one post-secondary institution in Orangeville. Georgian College operates one of their satellite schools just south of Broadway.

Media

The local radio station formerly targeted its news and variety programming out of Orangeville to Southern Huronia. CIDC later became a top-40 station targeting the Toronto, Ontario and Area. The signals have been moved southeast to increase coverage into Greater Toronto, and studios have been moved to the Toronto community of Etobicoke.

CHOV 101.3 FM was a community radio station that served the town of Orangeville. It was established to fill an "audio-void" left when CIDC moved its studios out of town. The station began operations on August 8th, 1996 at 1pm, on, 88.7 FM with the studio location at 168 Broadway. The station started strong, but in 1999, it cut costs by moving up the road into a smaller building housed at 178 Broadway. Financial problems continued to plague the radio station and in 2000, it moved to 10 - Fifth Avenue, in a mobile trailer, well away from traffic, and people! In addition to the move, the station changed its frequency to 101.3 FM. It was often called the station no-one could find, due to lack of visibility, advertising, and a poor signal. The programming on the station was good, but lack of advertising, and on-air talent eventually led to its demise in 2004. Some of the more popular shows were Oldies 101, hosted by Martin Walker, The Sounds of Soul (SOS) hosted by Peter Noce, and Mic Manuel, Gone Country with Jim Milton, and The Barry Mac Show, hosted by Barry MaCochener. It is hoped that radio will return to Orangeville someday, but it is highly unlikely as competiting stations in Newmarket, Barrie, and Guelph would likely vito a new radio station coming to Orangeville.

American religious broadcaster Cornerstone Television operates a broadcast centre within the former Uptown Theatre at 291 Broadway. In addition to Good Friends Radio, a low-power Christian FM station (89.9 FM), Cornerstone uses the facility to produce faith-based television programs such as Quick Study.

There are two local newspapers based in Orangeville, the Orangeville Citizen and the Orangeville Banner. In addition, the town is also serviced by the major national and Toronto newspapers.

Until June 2005, Rogers Television maintained its Peel North studio and production facility at 98 C-Line. The facility was closed to allow for expansion of the Peel North headend. Rogers is cable provider for Orangeville.

Government and Politics

The mayor of Orangeville is Drew Brown.

Orangeville is located in provincal electoral district of Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey. Its current Member of Provincial Parliament is the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader, John Tory.

Federally, Orangeville is located in the Dufferin—Caledon electoral district. Its elected Member of Parliament is currently PC David Tilson.

Churches

Famous residents

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Orangeville, Ontario".

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