There are probably other tools out there, but ones I use are:
1) Wikipedia - gives a lot of history for places
2) GenWeb County sites - likewise often shows how counties were formed, split from each other, townships formed and moved and changed, etc. Just search "Genweb Orange New York" (without the quotes).
1) Wikipedia - gives a lot of history for places
2) GenWeb County sites - likewise often shows how counties were formed, split from each other, townships formed and moved and changed, etc. Just search "Genweb Orange New York" (without the quotes).