Orangeville

Clock tower, downtown Orangeville

Orangeville (29,000 inhabitants in 2016) is about an hour's drive north of Toronto. Orangeville serves as an administrative and commercial hub for Dufferin County, the northern portion of Peel Region and the surrounding area.

Understand

Orangeville's downtown core is home to several retail stores, and there is a cluster of big-box stores in the Fairgrounds Shopping Centre. Many residents in and around Orangeville also commute to other areas of the Greater Toronto Area for work.

There are a number of manufacturing plants in the town. Orangeville is also the main banking centre for residents in the area.

History

The archeological record in Dufferin County dates indigenous occupation of the area to the "early Paleo-Indian" time period from 9000 to 8400 BCE. What eventually became Orangeville and Dufferin County, was historically the traditional territory of the Tionontati or Petún (Tobaco) People. They lived in the mountains south of Nottawasaga Bay, in what are now Grey and Simcoe counties, and farther south at the source of the Grand River in Dufferin County.

The Petún were decimated by European diseases in the 1630s, going from a population of approximately 8000 to 3000, and were attacked by the Iroquois in December 1649 further reducing their numbers to fewer than 1000. They then fled along with other Huron peoples into the United States, while other Petún sought refuge with their French allies and settled in Quebec.

After the decimation and dispersal of the Huron, Petún, and Neutral people of southern Ontario, Algonkian peoples from northern Ontario moved into the area at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, while members of the Three Fires Confederacy (Chippewa, Odawa, Potawatomi) moved into southern Ontario from Ohio and Michigan in the late 1700s. During the pre-confederation Treaty era, Anishinaabe or Chippewa First Nations signed Treaty #18 in, 1818, which included the Dufferin County area. Today, the descendants of Petún call themselves Wyandotte, and despite the 350 years since their displacement from southern Ontario, and despite the heteroglot and diasporic nature of their contemporary communities (in Oklahoma, Michigan, Kansas, and Quebec), they continue to recognize their shared history and are united through a modern-day Wyandotte Confederacy.

Orangeville was named after Orange Lawrence, a businessman born in Connecticut in 1796 who owned several mills in the village. As a young man, he moved to Canada and settled in Halton County. During Mackenzie's rebellion in 1837, he was a captain in the militia. Lawrence purchased the land that became Orangeville from Robert Hughson. The public library, located at Broadway and Mill Street, was completed in 1908. Andrew Carnegie, well-known businessman and philanthropist, provided financial assistance for its construction.

Get in

By bus

• GO Transit. Route 37 service from Brampton, Monday-Friday, holidays excluded. Connections from Toronto, Guelph, and Kitchener can be made at Brampton GO station. (updated Mar 2024)
• TOK Coachlines. Service from Vaughan, Kincardine, and Port Elgin. (updated Mar 2021)
• Grey Transit Route. Bus service from Owen Sound. (updated Feb 2021)

Get around

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

• Orangeville Transit. M-F 7:15AM-8:45PM, Sa 7:15AM-6:15PM, no Su or holiday service. Service on three routes throughout town, meeting at the Fourth Avenue transfer point every half hour -- at quarter past the hour and quarter to the hour. Free at least until July 21, 2027. (updated Nov 2024)
• Orangeville Airport Limo, ☏ +1 647-297-1297. 

See

• Theatre Orangeville, 87 Broadway, ☏ +1 519-942-3423 (ext. 2800), toll-free: +1-800-424-1295. Theatre for adults and children in the historic 273-seat Orangeville Town Hall Opera House. Wheelchair accessible, equipped with a hearing accessibility system. (updated Jun 2018)

Do

Hockley Valley skiing

• 1 Hockley Valley Resort, ☏ +1 519 942-0754. RR #1, a few km outside Orangeville. Skiing, spa, golf, hotel. Has a good restaurant. From $89 pp, double occupancy for a getaway 
• Art Walk of Tree Sculptures. Tree sculpture art on municipal boulevards-- 54 sculptures. Brochure available online. (updated Jun 2018)

Eat

• 1 Rustik, 199 Broadway, ☏ +1 519 940-3108. M W Th 11AM–3PM, 5PM–9PM; F Sa 11AM–3PM, 5PM–10PM; Su 11AM–3PM, 5PM–8PM. Very good food. (updated Jun 2018)
• 2 The Mono Cliffs Inn, 367006 Mono Centre Rd, ☏ +1 519 941-5109. RR1. Casual and fine dining. (updated Jan 2016)
• Barb's Country Kitchen, 634041 Highway 10, ☏ +1 519-938-8282. Daily 7AM-3PM. Diner, burgers. (updated Jun 2018)

Drink

• Mill Creek pub, 28 Mill St, ☏ +1 519-307-5700. M-Th 11AM–10PM, F Sa 11AM–midnight, Su noon-9PM. (updated Jun 2018)
• Adamo Estate Winery, 793366 3rd Line EHS, Mono, ☏ +1 519-942-3969 x5100. Su M 11AM to 6PM, Tu noon to 7PM, W Th noon to 8PM, F Sa 11AM to 9PM. A small-batch boutique winery offering tastings and tours. (updated Jul 2020)

Sleep

• Hockley Valley Resort (see Do) have packages including rooms, dinner, ski-cards or spa, e.g. two summer nights for two with dinner for $101.
• Best Western Plus Orangeville Inn & Suites, 7 Buena Vista Dr, toll-free: +1 519-941-3311. From $229. (updated Jun 2018)
• 1 Atlanta Motel, 316 Broadway Ave, ☏ +1-519-941-8280. From $82. (updated Jun 2018)

Go next

• Cheltenham Badlands - Fascinating landscaping of rolling red gullies created by erosion.

Routes through Orangeville

Becomes ←	W  E	→ King → ENDS at
END ← Owen Sound ←	N  S	→ Caledon → Mississauga via
Kincardine ← Brockton ←	W  E	→ Becomes