The Orange Branch is somewhat of a mythical creature nowadays. If you know where to look, you can still see evidence of it.
On North Park Street in East Orange, the metal train tracks appear briefly before diving back under the asphalt, like the Loch Ness monster coming up for air.
In downtown West Orange, there is an overgrown lot behind a chain-link fence on Park Avenue that hides this forgotten chapter in local history. This is the original terminus of the Orange Branch — it was later extended to Main Street, near St. Mark’s Church, in the 1880s — but you couldn’t tell just by looking at it.
This Saturday, the Orange Branch Historical Society will hold its first meeting and begin the work of preserving the history of the line, which ceased in 1966, collecting old photos, memorabilia, artifacts, and recording oral histories.
We will also begin advocating for transforming these abandoned Orange Branch lots into something meaningful, beginning with the one in downtown West Orange. A park, rail trail, or even light rail? The Orange Branch could be a special place someday in whatever form it takes. Though, whatever is done will have to be done without an additional cost to taxpayers in West Orange, a township that is facing $170 million in debt.
The West Orange segment is a good place to begin this journey because it is owned by the township, not private owners, and it is located downtown near an important tourist site — the Edison Museum. Imagine a history-themed park or pedestrian plaza that forms an important connection to the shops along Main Street and teaches visitors how Edison’s factories created batteries for rail cars and assembled street cars that used the Orange Branch for test runs.
The hope is that reviving one section of the Orange Branch could create a ripple effect on the other remaining underutilized sections in Orange, East Orange, Bloomfield, and Newark and one day weave together a heritage trail that tells a larger story about the growth of Essex County.
The Orange Branch is a story about the Oranges. David Ropes, a former Orange mayor who lived on White Street, founded the line in 1876. It was originally called the Watchung Railroad. Montclair & Greenwood Lakes later leased it. The Erie Railroad got involved in 1878 after a bankruptcy sale. But it all began with an Orange resident.
As for the privately owned portions, they can remain that way. We will simply monitor them and if they become available, make a case for townships to purchase them with Open Space funds or with financial help from conservation groups and foundations. The larger goal is to cobble together these segments of the Orange Branch to someday make a contiguous right of way for recreation, transportation, or some combination of these.
This corridor could become an artery through West Orange, Orange, East Orange, Bloomfield, and Newark that connects important landmarks and tourist sites, including Main Street, the Edison Museum, the former site of the U.S. Radium Corporation, the artist studios of Manufacturers Village, the old Westinghouse factories that contributed to the Manhattan Project, Watsessing Station, the former MGM Record Manufacturing Plant, and Branch Brook Park. There is an important story waiting to be told about Essex County and a chance to create something that could help revitalize West Orange’s downtown.
Orange Branch Historical Society is funded with a generous grant from the:
