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CITIES, AMERICAN. (ORANGE.) 



have a reservoir of 270,000,000 gallons capacity 

 between the First and Second mountains, west 

 of the city. The works were completed in 1884, 

 and cost about $425,000. In addition to this, a 

 storm water and sewage system is now near- 

 ing completion, the total cost of which will be 

 about $1,000,000. The city and suburbs are well 

 lighted by electricity and gas furnished by pri- 

 vate corporations. The shops and office buildings 

 of the merchants, the Music Hall, Masonic Lodge, 

 in which there is a large post-office, and the 

 buildings of the First National Bank, the Young 

 Men's Christian Association and the Women's 

 Christian Temperance Union, besides the many 

 fine churches and the newer schoolhouses, give 

 the city considerable pretentions to architectural 

 beauty. The residences are among the finest in 

 the State. There are 5 public-school buildings, 

 including the high school and a lately perfected 

 manual-training school, employing 55 teachers, 

 with an enrollment of nearly 2,500 pupils. There 

 are several large private schools where young 

 men and women are fitted for college, and kin- 

 dergarten and music and dancing academies. 

 The leading secular organization is probably the 

 New England Society, which has a membership 

 of 275. It is divided into sections devoted to 

 study in many departments of science and the dis- 

 semination of knowledge, by means of lectures 

 and exhibits. It has an historical and reference 

 library and reading-room in its own building, the 

 Music Hall. The Woman's Club has a mem- 

 bership of nearly 300. The Women's Christian 

 Temperance Union has a building of its own, 

 and many branches of educational and practical 

 work. The Bureau of Associated Charities is on 

 the plan of the New York Charity Organization. 

 The Memorial Hospital has a building accom- 

 modating 50 patients, with a training-school for 

 nurses. The orphan asylum has a large building. 

 There is a board of health, the Orange Auxil- 

 iary of the National Medical Society, and other 

 organizations for protection of the health and 

 other interests of the population. The Free 

 Library Association maintains a free reading- 

 room and reference and circulating library for 

 residents of the city. The Mendelssohn Union is 

 a singing society with a total membership of 

 270. led by a conductor from New York, and 

 giving several public concerts a year. There is 

 a military company, a post of the Grand Army 

 of the Republic, Order of Elks, Turnverein, Es- 

 sex County Hunt, athletic club, wheelmen's club, 

 lawn-tennis association, an art association that 

 gives an annual exhibition of paintings and en- 

 gravings, and a camera club. 



The Orange National Bank has a capital of 

 $150,000; the Second National Bank, a capital 

 of $100,000 ; the Orange Savings Bank and the 

 Half-Dime Savings Bank have an aggregate de- 

 posit of $1,750,000. Of the 5 weekly papers, 2 

 are in the German language. The Board of 

 Trade, which was established in 1891, has a 

 membership of about 160. 



This ranks as the fourth hat-manufacturing 

 city of the United States, and the portion of the 

 town known as the Valley, southward toward 

 South Orange, called Highland Avenue, is largely 

 occupied by hat factories and their operatives. 

 In this and other portions of the city, where 

 the small amount of water necessary in the 



dyeing has been afforded by the insignificant 

 streams that are the only water courses between 

 the Passaic and Rahway rivers, there are about 

 20 factories for blocking and finishing men's- 

 hats, employing about 5,000 persons, and repre- 

 senting an investment of about $1,000,000. 

 This industry was begun about one hundred 

 years ago, and has always been the principal one 

 of the place. Two of the largest hat-forming 

 mills in the country have been opened during 

 the past ten years, and that branch of the trade 

 has so grown that a large portion of the finished 

 hats turned out of the binders' hands and boxed 

 by local factories for export have come into the 

 city in the form of bales of rabbit fur, etc. Hat- 

 ters' tools, shoes, sashes, blinds, doors, carriages, 

 and harnesses are made here. 



EAST ORANGE is the most important of the 

 townships surrounding the city, though it is the 

 smallest in area and has the fewest industries. 

 It is a place of suburban homes, and covers 3 

 square miles, lying east and a small portion 

 north of Orange. It has 3 railroad stations, and 

 is traversed through the main street by the 

 Newark and Orange Electric Street Railway. 

 The population is 14,000. The government is 

 by a township committee, consisting of the chair- 

 man and 12 members. The police department 

 numbers 25 men. The fire department (paid) 

 has 5 hose companies and 1 hook and ladder 

 company. There are 5 graded public schools, 

 including kindergarten and manual training. 

 There is a board of health, and 1 newspaper is 

 published here. The water supply is obtained 

 from driven wells owned by the Orange Water 

 Company, a private corporation. The town has 

 a deodorizing system of sewage, copied from 

 Birmingham, England, and completed about 

 four years ago, at the cost of $425,000. There 

 is a national bank, a savings bank, a large po- 

 rous-plaster factory, and a few other industries. 

 There are several athletic and social clubs, and 

 societies for village and personal improvement. 

 There are 4 Presbyterian churches, 2 Episcopal, 

 3 Methodist, 2 Baptist, 1 Congregational, 1 Dutch 

 Reformed, and 1 Roman Catholic. 



WEST ORANGE township lies west of the city, 

 covering about 15 square miles, from the foot of 

 the First mountain beyond the summit of the 

 Second mountain, rising to 650 feet above the 

 sea. The population numbers 5,500. There is a, 

 police department of 12 men, a well-organized 

 fire department, 2 Presbyterian and 1 Episcopal 

 churches, and 2 graded public schools. A large 

 portion of this township is still occupied by 

 farms, which supply the markets of the neigh- 

 boring towns and cities. There are also many 

 fine country residences on the ridge above 

 Orange, commanding a view eastward even to 

 Long Island. The mountain ridge, which is an 

 outcropping of the same geological formation of 

 trap rock as the Palisades of the Hudson, has 

 long been worked by quarrymen and stone 

 crushers for the macadamized roads. There are 

 also valuable deposits of building sand and some 

 soft red sandstone quarries. The highest point 

 of the ridge is Eagle Rock, a well-known place 

 of observation and picnic ground, where the 

 Germans of Newark celebrate their sunrise festi- 

 val of Pfingster. It is reached by the trolley 

 railroad from Newark, and a cable elevator. 



