Orange County was formed from parts of Knox, Gibson, and Washington counties by the Indiana Territorial Legislature on December 26, 1815. Even the county was formed in 1815, it didn’t become effective until February 1, 1816. In 1816 the Orange County seat was designated at Paoli, which was named after Pasquale Paoli Ash, the 12-year-old son of the sitting North Carolina Governor. The county itself is named after the current reigning house in the Netherlands, The House of Orange-Nassau. With a total area of 408 square miles, the county also has a population count of just under 19,500 residents.