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Town Info Orangeville is a town in south-central Ontario, Canada. Orangeville is one of the furthest municipalities still unofficially considered to be part of the Greater Toronto Area. It is the seat of Dufferin County. Population Demographics According to the Canada 2001 Census: According to the town's administation, as of December 2005 the town's population was 27,576 persons. History Before European settlers, Orangeville was thought to be a native hunting ground. No permanent settlements have been identified in the area, despite the discovery of minor burial sites. The first patent of land was issued to Ezekiel Robinson, a land surveyor, on August 7, 1820. This was followed by land issued to Alan Robinet in 1822. In 1863 Orangeville was named after Orange Lawrence, a businessman who owned several mills around the village. Lawrence was born in Connecticut in 1796. As a young man he moved to Canada and settle in Halton County. During the Mackenzie's rebellion in 1837 he was a captain in the militia. Lawrence purchased the land that became Orangeville from Robert Hughson. (Source: The Orangeville Banner, March 8, 1951). In 1873, the Act of Incorporation was passed and Orangeville was given town status on January 1, 1874. The public library, located at Broadway and Mill St, was completed in 1908. Andrew Carnegie, well-known businesman and philanthropist, provided financial assistance for its construction. Industry Orangeville is predominantly a commuter town. The majority of businesses in the Town are service based. Manufacturing is the Town's biggest industry. The industrial sector of Orangeville is primarily located on, and in the vicinity of Centennial Road(located south-west of Broadway). Transportation The main intersection in the heart of the town is Broadway Avenue(formerly Provincial Highway 9) and First Street. Provincial Highway 10 runs through Orangeville on its east side. Beginning in 2005 a major roadworks project was initiated to resurface Broadway Avenue through Orangeville. The downtown section was completed in early 2006 with extensive work still be done on the west end into the Fall of 2006. In conjunction with this project was a plan to build large planters in the middle of Broadway through the downtown section (First-Third Streets West - East). This project has been quite controversial. Many people have found the plan to be overambitious and impractical. Safety concerns have also been raised by the Fire Department because the new concrete planters in the middle of the road have made the right of ways too narrow for fire trucks to properly set up in case of a fire in a downtown building. Construction on this project continues with 2 of the 3 planters completed. The town has its own public bus system, and a GO Bus service to Brampton. Infrastructure Construction of the South Arterial Road, often referred to as the 'Orangeville by-pass', has reached its completion. The road runs from East to West, connecting provincial highways ten and county road 109 (formerly provincial highway nine). Much of the Eastern stretch runs through the Town of Caledon, but officially enters into Orangeville at the Townline Road controlled intersection. When the project was first announced on May 11, 2005 it was touted as the panacea to the commercial truck traffic that conjested both Broadway and Townline Road. Aecon Construction and Materials Limited was the successful bidder for the Design Build project with a price of $9.8M. The project was completed in conjunction with Brampton-based Armbro Construction, TSH Engineers Architects Planners, Peto MacCallum Limited and Gartner Lee Limited. Concerns have been raised over the town's sewage treatment facilities, which are located on Townline Road. Many argue that, given the town's growing population, the current facilities must be upgraded or replaced. Despite these demands and the growth of its residential population, the town does not have that tax base to responsibly finance the project. The town has attempted to defer such construction by implementing a water conservation program that makes use of water usage metering. Further, while the town has achieved a population that legally qualifies it as a city, Orangeville remains incorporated as the Town of Orangeville. If the town is to reincorporate as the City of Orangeville, it would be obliged to build a treatment facility to match. The town's overwhelmingly Conservative and neo-liberal citizenry has impeded development by resisting tax increases. In February 2006, town council struck its proposed budget, one which called for tax increases, opting instead for zero-based budgeting. Given this motion, budget shortfalls are expected to continue until significant tax increases are introduced. Restaurants Bars: The Mad Hatter, Mill Street Bistro, TJ's Hanger Fastfood/Pizza:McDonalds,KFC,Wendys,Harvey's,A&W, Pizza Hut, Pizza Pizza,Topper's Pizza, 2-4-1 Pizza, Double Double Pizza,Johnny's Pizza Resturants: Greystones Inn, Honey's Cafe, The Train Station, Il Corso Restorante, Bluebird Cafe, One Ninety Nine Broadway, Juniper Grill,Kelsey's, East Side Mario's, Winchester Arms, Montana's Cockhouse, Boston Pizza,Wimpy's Angel's Diner, Swiss Chalet, The Taj Attractions Attractions in Orangeville vary and appeal to all ages. There are many bars one can go to in Orangeville. Orangeville has one theatre, where plays are shown year round. A place for all ages is Galaxy Cinemas. This is the most popular place to be for the youth. Lazer Maze is located on the west side of town. Every Saturday during the summer a farmer's market takes place. A popular all ages attraction in the heart of Orangeville at Centre Street and Broadway Avenue is Kingpin Bowl, a Family Entertainment Centre which includes a 20 Lane bowling alley, Kosmic Bowling, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, Pool and Redemption Arcades. Education There are currently eight public and separate elementary schools in Orangeville: Credit Meadows, Mono Amaranth, Parkinson Centennial, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, St. Andrew's RC, St. Benedict's RC, and St. Peter's RC. Along with these publicly funded schools there are also numerous private schools in the area: Dufferin Area Christian School, Hillcrest Private School, The Maples Independent Country School, Orangeville Christian School, and Trillium Montessori School. There are two Secondary Schools located within the boundaries of Orangeville: Westside Secondary School and Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS). Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School is located about 20 minutes away in Caledon East. Humber College has begun construction on a new campus that is set to be completed in Spring 2006. The 28-acre site, located on Veteran's Way, is expected to begin offering programs to students as soon as January 2007. Upon opening, the campus is expected to accommodate up to 800 students, expanding to 2,000 by 2017. Until the Humber campus is completed, there is only one post-secondary institution in Orangeville. Georgian College operates one of their satellite schools just south of Broadway. Media The local radio station formerly targeted its news and variety programming out of Orangeville to Southern Huronia. CIDC later became a top-40 station targeting the Toronto, Ontario and Area. The signals have been moved southeast to increase coverage into Greater Toronto, and studios have been moved to the Toronto community of Etobicoke. CHOV 101.3 FM was a community radio station that served the town of Orangeville. It was established to fill an "audio-void" left when CIDC moved its studios out of town. The station began operations on August 8th, 1996 at 1pm, on, 88.7 FM with the studio location at 168 Broadway. The station started strong, but in 1999, it cut costs by moving up the road into a smaller building housed at 178 Broadway. Financial problems continued to plague the radio station and in 2000, it moved to 10 - Fifth Avenue, in a mobile trailer, well away from traffic, and people! In addition to the move, the station changed its frequency to 101.3 FM. It was often called the station no-one could find, due to lack of visibility, advertising, and a poor signal. The programming on the station was good, but lack of advertising, and on-air talent eventually led to its demise in 2004. Some of the more popular shows were Oldies 101, hosted by Martin Walker, The Sounds of Soul (SOS) hosted by Peter Noce, and Mic Manuel, Gone Country with Jim Milton, and The Barry Mac Show, hosted by Barry MaCochener. It is hoped that radio will return to Orangeville someday, but it is highly unlikely as competiting stations in Newmarket, Barrie, and Guelph would likely vito a new radio station coming to Orangeville. American religious broadcaster Cornerstone Television operates a broadcast centre within the former Uptown Theatre at 291 Broadway. In addition to Good Friends Radio, a low-power Christian FM station (89.9 FM), Cornerstone uses the facility to produce faith-based television programs such as Quick Study. There are two local newspapers based in Orangeville, the Orangeville Citizen and the Orangeville Banner. In addition, the town is also serviced by the major national and Toronto newspapers. Until June 2005, Rogers Television maintained its Peel North studio and production facility at 98 C-Line. The facility was closed to allow for expansion of the Peel North headend. Rogers is cable provider for Orangeville. Government and Politics The mayor of Orangeville is Drew Brown. Orangeville is located in provincal electoral district of Dufferin-Caledon. This was changed from Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey when the Province instituted the 107 electoral districts revision in 2006. Its current Member of Provincial Parliament is the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader, John Tory. Federally, Orangeville is located in the Dufferin—Caledon electoral district. Its elected Member of Parliament is currently David Tilson of the Conservative party. Churches
Famous residents
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