Cultural opportunities were rare for women in the Orange community at the end of the 19th century. On October 18, 1893, a small group of women met to form "The Ladies' Shakespeare Club" for the study of Shakespeare, history and literature in general. The name was later changed to "The Ladies' Reading Club." In 1903 the club became part of the general Federation of Womens' Clubs. Giving members the support and strength of many women. The federation's large membership transformed common concerns of public interest into projects and programs of action by volunteer club women. The woman's club organized the first library in Orange, beginning with a magazine exchange at the county courthouse. In 1920 the members gave a tea, inviting the public to attend and to donate a book to the library. There were housed in an old Chamber of Commerce building. In 1922 the club was renamed "The Woman's Club." A local dentist and his wife sold a lot to the Woman's Club in 1923. On this land the Woman's Club building was erected. The books were relocated to this site and the first Orange Public Library was opened within the Woman's Club building. In 1941 members added a room to the south side with a separate entrance for the library. By 1957, the enlarged library was moved into the recently vacated city hospital; it was moved again in 1963 to the recently vacated post office building, and then to its own home at Fifth and Main Street in 1977. The Woman's Club building was renovated in 1989. At the beginning of the 21 century, the Woman's Club of Orange continues in the traditions of its founders.
Location: Pine & 5th Street
Six months after the news of emancipation reached Texas in 1865, the Louisiana-Texas-Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for African Americans, known as the Mississippi Mission Conference, was organized on Christmas Day. In 1868, its mission at Orange began to host worship services. Baptist minister Arthur Robinson led the mission and was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph Hardin, a circuit rider from Galveston, the following year. The name Salem Methodist Episcopal Church was formally adopted when the mission became a full church in 1873. Church trustees acquired property and constructed a small frame building in 1877. For several years beginning in 1883, students of the African American School at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church attended classes in the Salem Church Building. As the congregation grew, trustees acquired additional land, and by 1923 brick was added to a second frame building. The sixtieth session of the Texas annual conference was held at Salem Methodist Episcopal Church in 1925. The church grew steadily throughout the 20th century and maintained an active role in the daily lives of the African American citizens of Orange. During the World War II population increase, elementary school classes were held in the Salem Church Building. Members of the church have been community and state leaders, including political and civil rights activists, ministers, educators, a vice president of the Texas National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the first black and first female mayor of the city of Orange. The Salem United Methodist Church continues in the traditions of its founders with programs of service and worship.
Location: 402 W. John
(1836-1887) South Carolina native Samuel M. Brown served with distinction as a surgeon in the Confederate army during the Civil War. He and his family settled in East Texas in 1866 and in 1871 moved to Orange. He was a respected local physician, often treating county jail prisoners and paupers. A leading citizen of the town, he was tragically killed in a locomotive accident on March 29, 1887. A local newspaper reported that he was aiding a child when he was struck by the train, and that his death was a great shock to the citizens of Orange.
Location: Evergreen Cemetery, Border & Jackson Streets
On September 9, 1940, a federal contract worth $82 million was issued to the Consolidated Steel Company to construct 12 Fletcher class naval destroyers here in Orange, Texas. This and other contracts coupled with the subsequent building of major shipyard facilities along the city's riverfront lifted the city out of a prolonged and deep economic decline which began in the early 1930s with the closing of area sawmills. The community celebrated the laying of the keels of the U. S. S. Aulick and U. S. S. Charles Ausburne on May 14, 1941. The Aulick became the first naval destroyer to be built in Texas and on Texas Independence Day, March 2, 1942, it was christened and launched amid a crowd of 6,000 people. The Aulick represented the second U. S. Naval warship to be named after War of 1812 Navy veteran John H. Aulick (1787-1861). by 1946 all 12 destroyers and over four hundred other ships had been completed here at a cost of over $876 million. Orange's well-developed shipyards encouraged major companies to build plants along the riverfront. Several petrochemical and industrial concerns followed suit in the 1950s and 1960s. Wartime shipyards operated by Consolidated, Levingston, and Weaver converted to peacetime activities.
Location: Ochiltree Park, 3rd & Front Streets
With roots in the missionary work of the Roman Catholic society of St. Joseph, this parish first gathered for worship in 1924. In that year, Father Alexis la Plante, Josephite pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Beaumont, said mass for three African-American families in Orange and reported it as a promising place for the formal establishment of a black Catholic mission. For the next 12 years, priests from Blessed Sacrament and from Our Mother of Mercy in Beaumont held worship services for the growing congregation in private homes and other rented or borrowed spaces. In 1936, a Boston, Massachusetts, priest donated funds for the construction of a church building in Orange, and it was dedicated in honor of St. Therese, the patron saint of Catholic mission work. Father Michael McCormack served as first resident pastor when a rectory was acquired in 1941. As a result of Orange's booming economy as a center for shipbuilding during World War II, the town's population increased as did the membership at St. Therese. A national street preaching institute was begun in 1943, and in 1945 a school and parish hall were constructed to serve the congregation. Throughout their history, the members of St. Therese church, the second oldest Catholic congregation in the city, have gathered as a community to worship together and to provide assistance to those in need. The parish stands as a significant part of Orange's heritage.
Location: 1409 N. 6th St.