Orange Christmas 120 years ago

Back in 1904, 120 years ago, Orange "city fathers" were asking "Santa Claus Congress" to push ahead to get a deep water port by the next Christmas. They wanted dredging.

On December 23, 1904, a 28-page special holiday edition of the Orange Leader, Citizen-Record Consolidated featured information on business and industries, plus lots of advertising for downtown stores, and fiction stories and poems about Christmas.

Orange was the only city in Orange County at the time, though communities were spread out and West Orange was being developed as a new housing area after a bridge was built to cross Adams Bayou. A story about railroad lines mentioned the Kansas City Southern had a station at Maurice. The "ville" had not been added to the Maurice, yet.

The city of Orange had a population of about 4,000 and Orange County had a population of about 5,900, meaning only about 1,900 people in the county lived outside of Orange.

The city had a busy downtown area centered around Front, Fourth, Fifth, and Main Streets. Green Avenue at the time was residential and had several mansions built along the avenue. Only a handful of wealthy people owned an automobile and most people still used horses or horse-drawn buggies or wagons for traveling. Livery services were available.

Orange was rich and prospering because of the big sawmills, especially the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. A two-page advertisement paid by the company touted its Star and Crescent Saw and Planing Mill with lumber "cut from the world famous forests of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The saw mill turned out 300,000 board feet a day and the planing mill had 200,000 board feet a day.

The lumber company advertised to sell railroad ties and side boards for railroad cars, a thriving business in those days.

The paper bragged about how many railroad connections were nearby including that Kansas City one in Maurice, 12 miles north of town. Ones in town included the Orange and Northwestern with one passenger train in and one passenger train out each day. The rest was freight. Also the Cotton Belt Railroad had "four great trunk lines." The biggest one was the Southern Pacific, with J.W. Parker as agent.

Orange had "two strong banks," First National and Orange National, plus two express companies, two telegraph companies, and two telephone companies.

Five sawmills were in town, along with a paper mill, a rice mill, an iron works, foundry, bottling works, and two shipyards.

Orange Ice, Electric Lights, and Water, provided the services for "a happy life." That company eventually became Gulf States Utilities, which morphed into Entergy. Sam C. Trimble was president and general manager, with W.H. Stark as vice president and J.W. Link as secretary-treasurer. Link was also the mayor at the time, owned a lumber company and a land development company, and built the grandest mansion on Green Avenue.

The special industrial-business edition reported that more than 1,000 men were employed in Orange at industries with another 400 to 500 men working in timber camps.

Orange was described as the "Land of Promise" for "prospectors and home seekers." The town was an escape from the "cold blast of a bleak northern wind." Water was available through artesian springs reached at less than 500 feet.

The new three-story brick Holland Hotel had 70 rooms with private baths, and hot and cold water. It was "fanned by Gulf breezes and is a delightful summer resort," or it was a "cozy comfortable home for winter tourists." The hotel, at the northwest corner of Fifth and Division, also had gourmet food, a barber shop, and a billiard room. Daily rates were $2.50 and up.

Lots of shops of all sizes lined Front, Fifth, Fourth and Main streets. The Orange Bakery with Beauchamp and Pavell proprietors, had a wide assortment of "Christmas Dainties" including pastries, fruits, nuts, and candies.

Curry, Johnson & Curry was one of the largest stores and had a half-page ad that touted "our own delivery wagon" and that both their phones had Number 15. The store was for "staple and fancy groceries." You could get a truffled game pate' plus fireworks at the store to help celebrate the holidays.

Butcher stores carried a variety of meats and were advertising turkeys, "dressed" or "on foot."

McDonald's Lunch Counter probably wasn't for the ladies in town. It was located in the "rear" of the Custom House Saloon, which was at Front and Fourth Street with the Sabine River in back. However, the lunch counter could pack a quick to-go for people going fishing or hunting.

The newspaper's editorial staff was disappointed the dredging for the new deep water had not been finished, but there was optimism it would be completed by the next Christmas. The Adams Bayou canal was in the process of being dug. The story did not mention whether the canal was created for shipping or for drainage.

Also, the city commission and city staff would be moving from "tenements" into a new city hall being prepared.