Orange, county seat of Orange County, lies on a bend of the Sabine River across from Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It marks the eastern tip of the Golden Triangle of southeast Texas. Evidence of Orange's location near Gulf coastal marshes is omnipresent in the flat, low-lying landscape and the dense canopies of pine and hardwood trees. The compact, gridded town plan, platted in 1845, touches the river bend at its southeast corner, at the historic waterfront and downtown business district. The business district has dissolved, reflecting the restructuring and dispersion of Orange's economy in the second half of the twentieth century. An ambitious Downtown Economic Revitalization Plan by MESA Design Group of Dallas of 2005, yet to be implemented, seeks to reverse Orange's fortunes by transforming the historic center into a leisure and cultural destination, implanting green spaces in the many urban voids.
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