ORANGEVILLE, TEXAS. Orangeville is on Farm Road 151 ten miles southwest of Bonham in southwestern Fannin County. The area was settled in the summer of 1836 by Daniel Dugan, who was joined the next year by Samuel G. Washburn, Israel Gabrile, and Jonathan Anthony. This was one of the earliest settlements in the county. In 1858 a community was formally organized and received a post office. Within ten years the town had a population of 150 with twelve businesses, including a steam gristmill and a cotton gin. Orangeville by the 1870s had a general merchandise store, a blacksmith shop, a saloon, and a gristmill. It reached its peak during the 1890s, with a population of 175 and some eighteen businesses; by then the St. Louis Southwestern Railway had built through the community. Orangeville lost its post office in 1904, and by the mid-1930s it reported twenty-five people and one business. In 1990 it had an estimated twenty-three residents but reported no businesses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fannin County Folks and Facts (Dallas: Taylor, 1977).

Brian Hart