Butterfield School Project

Vision for Reuse and Redevelopment of Historic Butterfield School Property

The former Butterfield School has been part of the fabric of the Town of Orange since its construction in 1878. The historic 2½-story brick and masonry building, located on a 2.21-acre site at 94 South Main St., served as a community school for more than a century before closing in 2015 due to declining enrollment. Through all those years, Butterfield was a cornerstone of the Orange community and central to the lives of generations of residents and families.

Today the Orange Economic Development & Industrial Corporation (OEDIC) is making the redevelopment and revitalization of Butterfield School its top priority. OEDIC assumed ownership of Butterfield after voters at the Orange annual town meeting in June 2025 authorized the Select Board to convey the property “for the purpose of facilitating beneficial reuse and redevelopment.”

The redevelopment of the site for senior or mixed-use housing has emerged as a strong reuse option, together with the potential for preserving the school’s cherished auditorium and gymnasium space and for possibly including a senior center in the project.

OEDIC’s goal is to create a new use for Butterfield School that stimulates economic growth, supports downtown revitalization, generates much-needed tax revenue, and addresses pressing community needs such as housing.

In essence, OEDIC wants to revitalize this beloved landmark for greater community benefit and in conjunction with the town’s overall efforts to build a vibrant and resilient future.

In fulfilling this vision, OEDIC is working to ensure that the redevelopment closely aligns with key areas of focus from Grow Orange 2035, the town’s recently completed long-range comprehensive plan:

• Reimaging the downtown: Given the Butterfield property’s close proximity to downtown, the redevelopment project will advance the efforts to revitalize downtown as the civic and cultural heart of Orange through public and private investments. A housing reuse would mean more people would living in the downtown area…and thereby a larger population supporting the products and services of nearby local businesses.
• Ensuring residents thrive in Orange: This area of action in the long-range comprehensive plan focuses on efforts to address housing challenges by creating diverse and affordable housing options, including senior housing, multi-family units, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
• Advancing a strong and forward-looking economy: The redevelopment of Butterfield fits within the focus on retaining and attracting businesses and industries that support the local workforce and expand the tax base.
• Investing in public infrastructure: The revitalization of Butterfield for greater community benefit feeds into the efforts to consolidate, upgrade and maintain buildings and sites to better utilize municipal resources. OEDIC envisions that the redevelopment of Butterfield would facilitate infrastructure investments – water, sewer, sidewalks and roads — in the surrounding neighborhood. In that way, the project will help in protecting the character of Orange’s neighborhoods while also expanding the range of housing options.

All these interrelated goals and objectives will shape the future of Orange and enable the vision for a vibrant downtown with successful local businesses, a strong and stable economy, and housing opportunities to meet the diverse needs of the community and its residents.