Fruit City, TX - A Hometown Like No Other

Nestled as close as possible to the Louisiana border is a small Texas town known by the locals as "Fruit City."

The name "Fruit City" stems from the official name of Orange, TX. However, I've yet to have seen an orange tree within miles of the area. Whether this is due to my lack of keen awareness to my surroundings or the lack of actual trees in the area, I've yet to determine.

My hope with this article is to shed some light on the wonderful people, places and overall atmosphere that Orange has to offer. For those of you from the area - I hope I do it justice.

And for those of you just tuning in - allow me to explain.

You see, from the surface, Orange has the same characteristics of your stereotypical highway pass-through, country road, hometown high-school type of town.

Once you dig a little deeper though, you start to realize just how special this place is.

The People

There must be something in the water, because the people of Orange consistently produce top-tier talent. Whether it be in academics, entertainment and show business, or the most notable, athletics - Orange is sure to impress. Between the two cross-town rival high schools of West Orange-Stark and Little Cypress-Mauriceville, there's no shortage of talent to go around.

Now speaking of these two schools, if you don't mind I'd like to venture into a short tangent.

I'd like to discuss specifically the characteristics of these two high schools. Despite the obvious geographical differences of being on opposite ends of town and the ever so invigorating sporting rivalries, the people who attend these high schools share striking resemblance.

When I say resemblance I'm referring to the quality of character and the toughness and ability to endure hardships. It's not uncommon to see the "rival" high school students from Orange being best friends off the field. This is a true testament to the way they were raised.

Now back to discussing the overall people of Orange.

The people of Orange can be described in one word - resilient.

In my 23 years of life, I've personally witnessed the people of Orange have to rebuild their homes, their careers, and their livelihoods on 4 separate occasions. The natural disasters tend to find their way through the Gulf of Mexico and right along the Louisiana border towards my hometown more often than not.

In those trying times, it is not uncommon to see friends and families merging into the few homes that were only slightly damaged or seeing neighbors share resources with those they hardly know to ensure that the people around them are taken care of and provided for.

I've witnessed firsthand the amount of people who band together to provide for others who need it most during the rebuilding phases of these devastating hurricanes.

The people of Orange are bred from a different cloth.

I don't know when it started and I don't know when it will end, but the personalities of my hometown mesh together in such a way that they can't help but produce morally sound, competent, and contributing members to our small-town society. That's something I'm proud of.

The Culture

Orange is the type of place where half of the people you graduate high school with end up going to Lamar, a few venture over to Aggieland, and the remainder begin their careers following in their father's footsteps at one of the numerous refineries in the area. However, it seems that no matter how far one ventures off initially, most people can't stay away for long and end up finding themselves back in the area in some way or another.

Despite how I might have phrased in the prior paragraph, the people working at those refineries are the backbone of my hometown. The incredible amount of resources that flow into our community are in large part because of the hard work of the operators, engineers, and construction workers at those refineries.

The culture of Orange is built off of the foundation set in place by those refinery workers.

It's a culture that I struggle to describe by any other word aside from - HUSTLE.

There's no easy day for the people of Orange. However, the hustle exhibited by each member of our society on a daily basis is something that pushes our community along.

When that 4am alarm goes off for our plant workers, when that teacher has to stay late to help her struggling student, or when that Spanky's waitress gets called in for an extra shift...our people go to work. That's a culture I'm proud to have been raised in.

Why I'm Proud to Call Orange Home

It's hard to imagine that I'd be the person I am today if it wasn't for the community that I was raised in. There is an old saying that it often takes a village to raise a child, and while I can't imagine being provided for by anyone other than my beautiful mother - I know that my Orange, TX "village" helped turn me into who I am.

I'm proud to call Orange home because I know the people who live there. Not only that, but I know the perception of those who witness Orange from an outsiders perspective. It's a humbling site to bring visitors to Orange and see their reaction to the beauty that we have to offer.

If you're someone who thinks that I've been glorifying our hometown throughout this article, I invite you to do some self-reflection about the town you grew up in.

In conclusion, I'm proud to call Orange home because of the greatness that I've seen it produce.

Whether it be athletic superstars like Earl Thomas or Kevin Smith, entertainers like Kate Robards, Missionaries of Mercy like Jim Sichko, or any other countless number of talented and influential people who came from Orange, TX - I'm proud to know that it was the 4am refinery worker dads, the moms who worked summer school and late afternoons teaching to make extra money, and those Spanky's waitresses picking up extra shifts who made it all possible.

Fruit City, TX - the place I'm proud to call home.

Vin

Sources/Images: Orange, Texas Facebook Page