Spotlight: Orangeville

by MAGEN OLSEN

Emery County’s Orangeville has nothing to do with oranges. In fact, its namesake, a man by the name of Orange Seely, wasn’t ever a resident of the town.

In the earliest days of its history, Orangeville was known as Upper Castle Dale, while Castle Dale was known as Lower Castle Dale. The two communities emerged in the 1870s when cattle were driven eastward from Sanpete County and land on Cottonwood Creek were marked for grazing. Seely, one of the cattle drivers, eventually took residence in the eastern settlement.

When Erastus Snow, former Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came to the area to divide the local congregations in 1882, he recommended naming the two communities Castle Dale and Orangeville. Seely, for whom Orangeville was named, actually lived in Castle Dale, suggesting that somehow the names were confused and given to the wrong settlements.

Orangeville stands out in Emery County history as the one-time center of art and culture. The town was home to the Orangeville Dramatic Association, which was founded in the 1880s and produced four plays a year. Local artist, Gavin Jack, beautified the interior of the Orangeville theater with murals and painted canvas curtains that depicted the chariot race from Ben-Hur. He later designed and produced the stone lions that sit at the west entrance of the Utah State Capitol. Orangeville’s theater also served as a church and social hall until the mid- 20th century.

Today, Orangeville is a residential community subsidized by the mining industry. The Wilberg coal mine sits twelve miles northwest of Orangeville. This mine is most known for a disastrous fire that claimed the lives of 27 employees a few days before Christmas in 1984. Orangeville is home of a memorial to the victims, many of whom were residents of the small community.

Orangeville’s mayor, Roger Swenson, is excited to be upgrading the city’s two parks over the next year. These improvements will benefit the annual events held in the city every year, including Orangeville’s Lamb Fry event during Pioneer Day, Joe’s Valley Bouldering Festival for the outdoors enthusiasts, and the semiannual Castle Valley Pageant in collaboration with Castle Dale.

The two towns may have once been similar in size, but Castle Dale has dwarfed her sister city as the county seat. The rivalry between the two has always been friendly, but historically Orangeville residents were known as “Skillet Lickers” because of their molasses production. Castle Dale folk were “Woodenshoes” for the number of Danish settlers there.

Perhaps the pet insults are forgotten today, but paired with the odd history of her name and her history of entertainment, they tell of a good-natured town with a sense of humor.