History

Orange Innovation Center.

Fertile uplands, interspersed with well-drained meadows, drew the first farmers to Orange. This labor pool would help the town become a major manufacturing node in Franklin County.

In 1790 a dam was built to tap the steady flow of the Millers River to power a saw and gristmill. Soon there were tanneries, blacksmiths, a brickyard, pottery barns and wagon fix-it shops to cater to the needs of farmers.

Vigorous large-scale manufacturing, stacked for export on the Boston & Fitchburg, took hold during the industrial revolution. By 1910 F.H. Sprague was churning out every manner of clothing from vests to Railroad Trousers. The Rodney Hunt Company was founded in 1840 and produced the wooden water wheels and the sluice gates used in textile mills; later they would go on to make pumps and hydraulics. Orange boasted the first automobile factory in the US, launching a short lived two-cylinder steam engine line of vehicles: The Grouts. The New Home Sewing Machine Co., the big name before Singer, made it's home in Orange as well.

Over the years, Orange evolved as a key locale for making heavy machinery, precision tools, plastics and wood products before much of the manufacturing left central Massachusetts en masse. The OIC building, unlike many of the other structures, was never unoccupied, and has been meticulously maintained.

The Building

The history of a place is emblematic of it's future.

Orange Innovation Center. purchased the building in 1984. It was purposed as a small business incubator to make and vend furniture. After two decades of restorative work, efforts to bring about the modern concept of the Orange Innovation Center ramped up in 2005. In the past 10 years alone, over half a million dollars have been invested in betterments to the property.

The building's fame came first with the sweet, sticky stuff.

Tapioca comes from manioc, a root and the original staple of both the Old World and the New World tropics. As urban legend would have it, in 1883, Susan Stavers, a Boston housewife, taking advice from her sailor- border, pushed a manioc root through her coffee grinder and got just the right flaky texture for a nice pearly tapioca pudding. She had the concoction sold door to door in brown bags.

John Whitman, a publisher and grocer, purchased the rights to her process, dubbed it "Tapioca Superlative". In 1894 he bought the building from J B Reynolds, who built an enormous shoe-making concern on the site in 1887. Tapioca became one of the most fashionable desserts of 1900s and a mainstay of the Kraft Foods conglomerate. The plant operated in the OIC building until the Minute Tapioca factory re-located to Delaware in 1967.

To the Orange Innovation Center's continuing advantage, food processing is generally clean industry, unlike the foul tanneries and grease-pit factories bequeathed by the Industrial revolution. When the Tapioca folks move out, the George Bent Co. of Gardner moved in and converted the building to manufacture furniture. Several million dollars worth of equipment was installed in the newly acquired facility in Orange as the building was retro-fitted to meet the demands of their booming business of making small specialized tables, chairs and their famous rolling serving cart. Unfortunately for the George Bent Co., all this new equipment was financed, and when the interest rates went up over 20% in early 1980's along with several big customers collapsing, the George Bent Co. went bankrupt in 1982.

However, much of the expensive infrastructure to support woodworking manufacturing such as the modern conveyor-style finishing line, electrical systems, and dust collection system all remained in place.

Noel Vincent, the current owner of the building and the originator of the Orange Innovation Center, was eager to meet the demand of his big customer (and co-owner), Jordan's Furniture. If you are old enough to have heard of Led Zeppelin you remember Jordan's 'water-pedic waterbeds'. His business manufacturing the extremely popular waterbeds was exploding and he had outgrown his 12,000 sq.ft. facility in Athol.

Huge old factories were designed to support one single industry, that's a problem that continues to plague small towns in New England. The building was way too big for even the expanding waterbed business. So what does any entrepreneur worth his salt do? Vincent started 5 more businesses to occupy all the wonderful (and inexpensive) space that was available in the Orange facility.

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Thus the notion for business incubator in Orange was born! Our original waterbed and storage drawer company Rockwood Industries was joined by Eastwood Manufacturing Co. (specialized under-bed storage platform beds) Stone Mountain Furniture (beautiful solid wood dressers, chests, beds) Overnight Distributing (wholesale distribution and trucking transport) the Bedroom Factory (retail furniture store) and Orange Investment (property management). Each company had different partners and investors but it all fit together like a well-crafted puzzle. The businesses prospered for many years, occupying 100% of the space, until downsizing became the survival response to offshore competition.

Fortunately, Orange Investment began the diversification of tenant base in 1989 by adding the then start-up Hi-De Liners as the first non-furniture related tenant to occupy the incubator space. The rest is history as they say, because the building has been adapted to fit the needs of a multitude of tenant's diverse mix of industry, crafts, and social service; which ultimately provides a more stable base for sustainable job creation and economic development for the community.

The Region

By the early and mid-eighties, the Orange-Athol area had seen the erosion of its long-time source of employment: tools and shoes. State policy-makers consistently overlooked North-central Massachusetts and frustration was growing as unemployment, homelessness and hunger soared.

In response, local leaders, clergy, and business people came together and began their own regional, internal process of earnest re-engagement. Since then, there has been a spirit of turn-around as the pre-cursor of the Orange Innovation Center, Orange Investment, LLC, took root at the site of the former Bedroom Factory.

Economic Development, Orange Style
Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program.

It's no mere pundits claim. Go to Orange and you'll encounter a hard-working, warm populace, committed to honing their skills in the disciplines of high-end tool making, and eager for redevelopment in their area.

Craggy state forests dominate the landscape, along with pond and stream laced properties owned privately or held in Trusteeship. The isolation Orange enjoys is a blessing for the hunter and naturalist, but it has its challenges in terms of local economics and the provision of services.

Though not exactly in Franklin County, the nearby Worcester County

"North of Quabbin" towns (Athol, Petersham, Phillipston and Royalston) are linked with the affairs of Orange, as are the somewhat more distant Worcester and Northampton, Greenfield, Fitchburg, Brattleboro, Vermont; and Peterborough, New Hampshire.

There are many agencies as well assisting in the development of the region, with more entering the fray every year. Even the smallest communities in the region are active; town selectman and those they represent have real power. Cooperating agencies and committees include the Orange EDIC, Great Franklin County Overall Economic Development Plan, Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Airport Commission, the North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce and the NQ Community Coalition, Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency and Massachusetts Office of Business Development, and the Federal Economic Development Administration.

Hats off to our Neighbors

Literally down the street from us, there are all kinds of folks working together who collectively represent the new face of development in Orange; the kind of folk who we hope may soon become strategic partners. There is moxie in the new Orange.

The Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES) is two blocks away from the OIC. The brainchild of organizer Tim Cohen-Mitchell and the Orange Revitalization Partnership, they are out to help "youth develop life skills, supportive relationships with peers and adults, and economic self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship education and business development." YES has launched an Odd Jobbers job bank, taken on the construction of a music studio, the renovation of restaurant space, and a build out of 12 cubicles to incubate both youth and adult businesses.

The Franklin Regional Council of Governments secured funds to manage storm water at a cleaned- up former toxic site, now the Orange Riverfront Park. "Low Impact Development Techniques" include rain gardens, permeable pavers, and soil amendments. Kayak, canoe, and bicycle rentals are amongst the recreational attractions of the Park.

Orange is a place of possibilities. Downtown may look a little beat-up, the restorations of the historic Town Hall and auditorium are almost complete and indeed Wal-mart has knocked out some of the traditional storefront activity, but Orange is ascendant. It has a good school system that is only getting better. Orange is now slowly revitalizing itself, thanks in part to its bucolic location, a wide variety of recreational activities, and an influx of money from both the west and the east.

It is worth mentioning that Orange is also the birthplace of sport skydiving in the United States. Jumptown, started in 1959, is an offshoot of the University of Massachusetts Skydiving Club, and a great place for both old expert and neophyte skydivers.

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Strengthening social services

Community aid and intervention is among the fastest growing sectors in the Orange economy. Individuals, the town, county and state officials are meeting the challenges head on.

Franklin County is still the most rural place in Massachusetts with seventy- two thousand or so people spread over 26 towns and 725 square miles. Rural living is romantic, but also associated with barriers for disadvantaged populations with splintered social networks, the increased risks that come with emergencies in remote areas.

There are limited public transportation options in the Franklin County region. Most of the county has no public transit services and few vans for the elderly and handicapped.

Roughly 20 percent of residents are unemployed, out of reach of general health promotion and registered with at least one disability, virtually constraining them to their homes.

Years of research have demonstrated that social isolation and barriers in the built environment limit access to health services for persons with disability.

"Substance abuse, alcohol in particular, is a big problem for teens in rural areas" according to Angela L. Russek, coordinator for the Community Coalition for Teens. Domestic violence is no longer invisible, and recently a permanent juvenile court office has taken on serious problems plaguing its youngest residents.

Regardless of the seeming new affluence from an influx of families buying homes in Orange from upscale cities and towns throughout Massachusetts, Franklin County is still amongst the ten poorest counties in the state with an ongoing problem of food scarcity and high percentage of disabled individuals-with little to no support from extended families-and a high unemployment rate.