HISTORY OF ORANGE
THE ORANGE WATER COMPANY
The Orange Water Company was organized as a small, neighborhood system in 1895 by Frank C., Watson S., and Robert J. Woodruff. The source of supply came from a reservoir on Grassy Hill. As the number of subscribers increased, this supply was augmented later by a pipe line from the reservoir of the New Haven Water Company at the Alling's Mills lake. When the Orange Center School was built in 1909, a pipe line was extended to the school as well as to the Green, and fire hydrants were installed in the Center of the Town. A stand pipe and reserve tank were built just north of the Cemetery.
The Orange Water Company was incorporated by a charter obtained from the General Assembly August 29, 1911. The number of users having increased gradually to over seventy-five, the Orange Water Company sold out its interests to the New Haven Water Company in 1938.
THE NEW HAVEN AND DERBY TROLLEY COMPANY
The trolley line connecting New Haven and Derby was started in 1902 and was first opened for service in 1904. The right of way was just south of the Derby Turnpike, running parallel to it for most of the way. This was a double-track system, maintaining half-hourly service. With the increasing use of automobiles, patronage grew less and less. The line was discontinued in 1938, and the tracks and ties were removed. Later this right of way, to a great extent, became the east-bound side of the four-lane highway, over the Derby Turnpike. Bus service, connecting the two towns, succeeded the trolley.
ILLUMINATION
The third major change in utilities came in the method of illumination. The means of lighting the homes has gone through a series of evolutionary steps since the early days of the town. First it was the tallow dip, when making the candles was one of the necessary household tasks. Then came kerosene oil, which was a great improve-
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