Described by Quaker Jacob Lindley as an "uncultivated part of nature's garden", Orchard Park has seen many changes in the years since its beginning. The first settlers in today's Orchard Park Township were Didymus C. Kinney, wife Phebe (Hartwell), and family. In October 1803, they purchased land in the southwest corner of the Township and built a cabin where they remained through 1810 (census). Soon, impressions of the area brought a tide of migrating Quaker families from Vermont, eastern New York, and Pennsylvania (a.k.a. Society of Friends). Agrarian Quakers preferred life in quiet communities that were detached from the "corrupting influences" of the larger world. This "uncultivated part of nature's garden" was attractive.

The area we now know as Orchard Park Township was originally part of the Township of Hamburgh; the area we know as the environs of the Four Corners of Orchard Park Village became known at an early day as Potter's Corner due to the homesteading of the prolific Quaker Potter family. A decision was made in 1850 to separate Hamburgh's east half from its west half, the new eastern Township to be named Ellicott. This designation lasted for a little more than a year, and was then changed to East Hamburgh. The name Potter's Corners gradually was replaced by Orchard Park, informally, around 1882 when it was noted that the community resembled a park of orchards. The community had been known as Orchard Park for many years before it officially was incorporated in to a village in 1921. Finally, the entire township of East Hamburg became known as Orchard Park Township in 1934, the final "h" of Hamburgh having been lost around the time of World War I.

No history of Orchard Park can be complete without mention of successful businessman and philanthropist Harry Yates. A Buffalonian, he came to Orchard Park shortly after the turn of the century. He came seeking pastureland for his coalwagon horses who were suffering from sore feet due to cobblestone streets of the city. He was so impressed with our rolling countryside, that he decided to add farming to his business interests, built his home here, and eventually invested in 3,500 acres of land. Ultimately, he created and donated Green Lake (1912) to the community, the adjacent Girl Scout Camp (c.1920) and Yates Park (1942), the site on which the present railroad depot is located including the present library site (1911). He also provided land for the construction of two churches, Nativity of Our Lord Roman Catholic and St. John's Lutheran, and the land for Nativity cemetery.