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Orange City, Iowa
Orange City is a growing community of 5,600 people located in the northwest corner of Iowa. Founded in 1870 by Dutch pioneers, it combines the friendliness and safety of a small Midwestern town with significant light industry in the midst of a prosperous agricultural region.
Among the amenities Orange City offers are:
- Exceptional public and Christian elementary and secondary schools
- A new state-of-the-art municipal hospital and clinic
- A city library, remodeled and expanded in 2003
- A seven-screen movie theater
- The 18-hole Landsmeer Golf Club
- A municipal swimming pool and waterslide
- A full-time Orange City recreation director for both adult and youth programs
- An active arts council
- Walking trails
- A nursing home and retirement community
- Senior citizen and daycare centers
Four housing developments complement the historic homes in more established neighborhoods, while an industrial park provides sites for businesses ready to take advantage of Orange City’s Industrial Development Grant.
As the county seat of Sioux County, Orange City features as its landmark the impressive Sioux County Courthouse in the center of town. Constructed of red Minnesota sandstone and trimmed in white sandstone, the courthouse was completed in 1904, restored in the 1970s, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Two blocks from the courthouse, Windmill Park serves as the site of community band concerts and Art Fest each summer.
Orange City is the center of the largest concentration of Dutch Americans west of Michigan. The town was named after the Dutch royal house, and the downtown business district is notable for the Dutch fronts on buildings. Orange City’s Dutch heritage is also reflected in the pride residents take in keeping their community neat and clean and in the windmills that stand in the city square and serve as a visitor’s center.
Twice-a-year celebrations owe their existence to Orange City’s Dutch background. The Tulip Festival, a three-day event in May, is a colorful celebration of spring that transports 150,000 visitors back to Holland in the 1800s. Guests stroll by beds of tulips while enjoying daily parades, horse-drawn trolley tours, and authentic costumes, folk dances and food. And each December, Orange City rings in the holiday season with another Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas Day, and the Christmas Tour of Homes.
Orange City is approximately an hour’s drive from both Sioux Falls, South Dakota (population 124,000), and Sioux City, Iowa (population 82,000). The major metropolitan cities of Omaha, Nebraska, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, are 140 and 260 miles from Orange City.
Quick facts about Orange City
| Airport |
Orange City Airport—runway: 4,200 feet, concrete |
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| Cable access |
Yes; ICN hookup available |
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| Cable stations |
1 |
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| Churches |
12 (3 more in nearby Alton) |
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| Education |
2 elementary schools (public and Christian)
1 middle school (located in Alton)
2 secondary schools (public and Christian)
1 four-year college
1 daycare
3 preschools
1 senior citizen center
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| Employers (top 10) |
Advance Brands
Orange City Area Health System
American Identity
Northwestern College
MOC-Floyd Valley Community School District
Diamond Vogel Paints
Sioux County Offices
Russell’s Pre-cast/Ready Mix
CIVCO
Orange City Christian School
Unity Christian High School
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Financial
institutions |
3 banks with assets of $200 million |
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| Housing developments |
Ridgeview/Landsmeer Addition
Southridge Addition
Puddle Jumper Trail Addition
Bouma/Reinders Addition
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| Incentives |
Orange City Industrial Development Grant provides $1,000 per new job created. A Sioux County revolving loan fund has a maximum of $100,000 available. Retail development expansion: $4 per square foot. |
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| Industrial park |
Industrial Airpark East: 40 acres
Development lot: 5 acres
Services: Electricity, water, gas, sewer
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| Medical providers |
Orange City Area Health System, 25 acute care beds
Specialists: On-staff radiology, general surgery and anesthesia
Specialty outpatient clinics: Allergy, audiology, cardiology, gynecology/urogynecology, mental health, nephrology, neurology, occupational medicine, oncology, ophthalmology, oral surgery, orthopedics, physical therapy, podiatry, speech pathology, urology, wound/ostomy/continence
13 primary care practitioners, including family practice and internal medicine physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners
2 satellite clinics in Hospers and Paullina
1 dialysis center in Hospers shared with Sheldon
2 optometrists
3 dentists
4 chiropractors
63-bed senior care (2 facilities)
Assisted living and independent apartments
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| Motels |
Dutch Colony Inn (712-737-3490)
Super 8 Motel (712-737-2600)
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| Newspapers |
2 weekly |
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| Population |
5,582 |
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| Radio stations |
2 |
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| Recreation |
Orange City employs a full-time recreation director and operates both youth and adult recreational programs. Facilities include:
- Baseball and soccer fields
- Basketball, tennis and racquetball courts
- Bowling alley
- Camping at Vet's Park
- Community Wellness Center
- Fishing at Dunlop Pit and Landsmeer Golf Club
- Landsmeer Golf Club, an 18-hole public course and walking trail
- Puddle Jumper Nature Trail
- Rollerblade hockey outdoor rink
- Skateboard park
- Seven-screen movie theater
- Swimming pool with waterslide
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Restaurants
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Over 15, ranging from coffeehouse hangouts to fast-food chains to the wood-fired cuisine of the Blue Mountain Smokehouse Grille |
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| Taxes |
Taxes on an $80,000 house are approximately $1,300 per year.
Tax abatement is available for industry and housing.
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| Utilities |
Electric: Municipal (Source: Orange City)
Gas: Municipal
Internet:
Sewer: Primary
Telephone:
Water: Municipal (Source: Wells)
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History
Orange City can trace its roots to a second Dutch migration to the New World, this time to the Midwest in the 19th century. A religious revival, accompanied by a desire for freedom of religious expression and for a better life in general, led thousands of Dutch Reformed people to immigrate to the United States. Their best-known colonies were Holland, Mich., and Pella, Iowa, both begun in 1847. Most of these immigrants soon joined the Reformed Church in America (RCA). In the 1870s, some Pella residents, led by the enterprising Henry Hospers, moved to inexpensive, fertile lands in northwest Iowa, about 40 miles north of Sioux City, and established Orange City.
Education
Orange City’s children benefit from exceptional elementary and secondary schools—both public and private. The MOC-Floyd Valley Community School District serves 1,400 students from kindergarten through grade 12. Standardized test scores consistently rank above the 90th percentile, and the elementary schools have been chosen by the Iowa First in the Nation in Education (FINE) Project in recognition of their exemplary manner of education. Both the Orange City Christian School and Unity Christian High School are fully accredited by the State of Iowa Department of Education.
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