In 1863, Orangeville was named after Orange Lawrence, a businessman born in Connecticut in 1796 who owned several mills in the village.

Andrew Carnegie, well-known businessman and philanthropist, provided financial assistance for its construction.

Orangeville serves as an administrative and commercial hub for Dufferin County, which sits to the north of the Region of Peel.

Major commercial and industrial employers include: the Resolve Corporation, a provider of computer outsourcing services; Allied Threaded Products, a fastener manufacturer; Greening Donald, a maker of automotive airbag components; Clorox Company of Canada, Glad garbage bags; Relizon Canada, pressure-sensitive labels; Rochling Engineering Plastics, formerly Symplastics Limited, plastic sheets; and Sanoh Canada, automotive components.

The downtown section was completed in early 2006, with extensive work still to be done on the west end in late 2006.

In conjunction with this project, there was another one completed in late 2006 that involved building large planters in the middle of Broadway through the downtown section between First and Third Streets (West - East).

[citation needed] A section of County Road 109, often referred to as the "Orangeville bypass", is a bypass opened in 2005,[11] running east–west connecting Highway 10 with a pre-existing section of County Road 109 that was formerly Highway 9 running west out of town.

In 2023, Orangeville Transit introduced a two-year pilot program of free public transport under which no fares were collected on any of its routes within the town.

[12] In the early 1990s, preliminary plans were drawn up for GO Transit passenger rail service to Orangeville.

The Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud operates catholic francophone schools serving the area.

[18] Georgian College currently owns and operates a campus located at 22 Centennial Road, offering full- and part-time courses.

[20] Begun in 2003, Orangeville's Art Walk of Tree Sculptures features more than 50 detailed works by local artists.

The largest tree sculpture is a tribute to Canadiana and the centrepiece of a small newly developed park.

The Athlete Institute Academy is home to Orangeville Prep, which has produced two top-10 NBA draft picks.

It faced reprimands from the CRTC in 2016 for not regularly broadcasting news and information content of specific relevance to Orangeville.

[24][25] Until June 2005, Rogers TV maintained its Peel North studio and production facility at 98 C-Line.

Its current Member of Provincial Parliament is Sylvia Jones, former assistant to Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader, John Tory.