Why Is There No ‘North Orange?’ Historian Explains NJ Oddity

ORANGES, NJ — If you live long enough in North Jersey, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll end up ripping your hair out over a question that many great minds have pondered through the years … why the heck is there no “North Orange?”

It’s a weird and quirky oddity in a part of the state that has four other municipalities that bear the name “Orange” (those being Orange, East Orange, South Orange and West Orange). So why no North Orange?

The short answer? There is … it’s called Montclair.

For the longer explanation, you might want to strap yourself in. According to Joe Fagan, the town historian in West Orange, the origin of the Oranges has absolutely nothing to do with a certain Vitamin C-laden fruit.

The story goes back nearly three centuries, Fagan said:

“It originally began as the ‘Mountain Society’ that was first used by the settlers of the original Newark settlement of 1666. This land extended west from the Passaic River and with subsequent land purchases from the Lenni-Lenape Indians included most of present-day Essex County.

“The name Orangefield was first used and adopted by the settlers in 1780 for an area of land west of Newark. The Orange prefix is reported to have been derived from the name of England's ruling house, the House of Orange. It had been suggested that since the terrain was both mountains and valley that the suffix ‘dale’ be used instead of ‘field.’ So, in 1782 the name of Orangedale was first used to designate the place of a church meeting. By 1790, the name was consistently being used in Newark town records and unofficially adopted. But by 1796, the ‘dale’ suffix was dropped without explanation and began to be simply referred to as Orange.

“On November 27, 1806, Orange was established as a separate township under an act of the New Jersey State Legislature. It separated from the Newark Settlement and included all of the territory now encompassing all of the Oranges. More towns were eventually separated from the Town of Orange. South Orange was organized on January 26, 1861; Fairmount (later to become part of West Orange) on March 11, 1862; East Orange on March 4, 1863; and West Orange (including Fairmount) on March 14, 1863. So, all the towns using Orange in the name were created save one. Collectively, all these bordering towns became known as the Oranges. Noticeably missing from this mix of compass headings from Orange however was North Orange.”

“A few years after the establishment of Orange in 1806, another land separation from Newark occurred. The Township of Bloomfield was created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 23, 1812. Bloomfield originally was a large parcel of land extending west that essentially began a parallel history concurrent with the subsequent land separations of Orange. The future towns of Belleville, Glen Ridge, Nutley and Montclair eventually were carved out from the Bloomfield land. Today’s Montclair was first known as Cranetown and then West Bloomfield. It became the Township of Montclair in 1868 and even though it was geographically located north of Orange, it never took on the name of North Orange to link it with the rest of the Oranges. The naming choice might have been a wise decision so not to be confused with an existing array of town names already associated with Orange.

“In New Jersey, however, there once was a town named New Orange. In the late 1890s, the New Orange Industrial Association (NOIA) purchased land in Cranford and Union in current day Union County. They NOIA intentionally named their town New Orange to be associated with the Oranges of Essex County. They believed if they associated their upcoming town with the well-known Oranges, it could help attract more investors and interest in the development of New Orange.

“They subdivided the land into building lots and sought out several large industries to come to their new town. They even convinced Upsala College which was founded in 1893 to move from Brooklyn with an offer of cash and free land for its campus in New Orange. The scheme worked for a while, but eventually caused too much confusion with the real Oranges in Essex County. In 1907, New Orange was incorporated as a borough and the name was changed to Kenilworth as it remains today. Ironically, Upsala College which relocated to New Orange moved to one of the real Oranges when it came to East Orange in 1924. The college eventually closed due to a declining enrollment combined with financial problems in 1995.”

“We often take for granted the names of places we know so well – but everything has a beginning,” Fagan told Patch.

“The reasoning of namesakes has three centuries of history which may be lost upon us today,” he said. “Its enduring impact still survives, and is reflected in the names of towns we travel today along the familiar roads of home.”

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The local fascination with "North Orange" is likely here to stay, though, as shown in the following tweet from @Chef_Stephh:

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