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The F.H. Sprague Company was founded in the 1890s and by 1910 it was thriving. It continued through the 1920s. A clothing manufacturer, it was one of the many industries in the town of Orange, Massachusetts, which became one of the major manufacturing centers of Franklin County. Originally, this was due to its location on the Millers River, which is fast-flowing and easily channeled. The first dam across the Millers River was built in 1790 at Orange and powered a saw and grist mill. The river also defined Orange's position along a major east-west route, one that connected Greenfield with Worcester. The Boston & Fitchburg Railroad (later Boston & Maine) ran through the town as a part of Massachusetts' northern railroad link. This connection to the outside world allowed Orange to become a regional manufacturing center, and the Sprague Company's debt to it is clear in its advertisement for "railroad trousers."

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F. H. Sprague Co.

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