From 1908 to 1974, the Orange train depot served Southern Pacific Rail company cars passing through Orange. Before that time, transportation by road and on water was unreliable and unsafe, which inhibited Orange's growth. The late 1850s timber boom in southeast Texas increased the need for a train depot to export Orange's raw materials to other parts of the country. The Orange station was one of many stops on the through line between San Francisco and New Orleans. Because racial segregation was still in effect when the depot was built, it had two ticket windows, two waiting rooms, and two restrooms for white and black passengers. In the early 1960s, a large wall dividing the black waiting room and the baggage and freight area was removed. After the depot closed in the 1970s, various entities intermittently used the building until a fire in 1990 damaged the roof and interior, though the brick walls and interior walls were undamaged. The depot remained abandoned until 2013, when a local nonprofit group raised funds to restore the building to its original condition. Crews built a new roof, exposed the cross-hatched windows on the second story, and returned the building to its original brick color and green trim, allowing the historic depot to be enjoyed by Orange-area citizens and visitors alike.