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84-614: The North Canal Historic District of Lawrence, Massachusetts , encompasses the historic industrial heart of the city. It is centered on the North Canal and the Great Stone Dam , which provided the waterpower for its many mill complexes. The canal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, while the district was first listed in 1984, and then expanded slightly in 2009. The city of Lawrence

168-669: A "missionary church", Sacred Heart on South Broadway, to serve the burgeoning Québécois community in South Lawrence. Later it would also establish the "missionary" parishes in Methuen: Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Theresa's (Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel et St-Thérèse). The French-Canadians arrived from various farming areas of Quebec where the old parishes were overpopulated: some people moved up north ( Abitibi and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean ), while others moved to industrial towns to find work ( Montreal , Quebec; but also in

252-643: A 911 operator. Essex County, Massachusetts Essex County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts . At the 2020 census , the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the state, and the seventy-eighth-most populous in the country . It is part of the Greater Boston area (the Boston – Cambridge – Newton , MA– NH Metropolitan Statistical Area ). The largest city in Essex County

336-586: A Catholic church in Lawrence and once an Irish bastion, has celebrated Spanish masses on Sundays since 1999. A mass in Vietnamese is also offered every other week. St. Mary's of the Assumption Parish is the largest Catholic parish in Lawrence by Mass attendance and number of registered parishioners. It has the largest multi-lingual congregation in the city and has been offering Spanish masses since

420-420: A bottom made of granite rubble that has been sealed with clay. It is capable of delivering 4,000 cubic feet of water per second; water power is still used in some of the mills lining its banks. The canal used to have operable locks for navigation; the upper ones were removed and the lower ones were filled in. The Pacific Mills complex is an extensive array of buildings in the western (upper) and central parts of

504-435: A desirable community. Ultimately the discussion left out those members of the community who would be directly impacted by urban redevelopment. Under the guise of urban renewal , large tracts of downtown Lawrence were razed in the 1970s, and replaced with parking lots and a three-story parking garage connected to a new Intown Mall intended to compete with newly constructed suburban malls. The historic Theater Row along Broadway

588-467: A family was $ 81,173. Males had a median income of $ 58,258 versus $ 44,265 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 33,828. About 7.7% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the poverty line , including 13.3% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over. The ranking of unincorporated communities that are included on the list are reflective if the census designated locations and villages were included as cities or towns. Data

672-483: A median income of $ 27,772 versus $ 23,137 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 11,360. About 21.2% of families (U.S. Average: 9.2%) and 34.3% (U.S. Average: 12.4%) of the population were below the poverty line , including 31.7% of those under age 18 and 20.1% of those age 65 or over. The former Mayor of Lawrence, Daniel Rivera, said the city was "approximately 75% Spanish" following an incident where non-English speaking callers were allegedly hung up on by

756-437: A perceived public benefit, via a top-down approach, to revitalize the city throughout the 1960s. Known first as urban redevelopment, and then urban renewal, Lawrence's local government's actions towards vulnerable immigrant and poor communities, contained an undercurrent of gentrification which lies beneath the goals to revitalize Lawrence. There was a clash of differing ideals and perceptions of blight, growth, and what constituted

840-517: A riot, centered at the intersection of Haverhill Street and Oxford Street, where several buildings were destroyed by Molotov cocktails and over 300 people were arrested. Lawrence saw further setbacks during the recession of the early 1990s as a wave of arson plagued the city. Over 200 buildings were set alight in eighteen months in 1991–1992, many of them abandoned residences and industrial sites. The Malden Mills factory burned down on December 11, 1995. CEO Aaron Feuerstein decided to continue paying

924-467: A wooded conservation district on the southern edge of Lawrence that spans the Lawrence-Andover town line, provides recreation for nature lovers and rock climbers alike. There are also several small parks throughout town. Lawrence has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa), which is typical for the southern Merrimack valley region in eastern Massachusetts . As of

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1008-610: Is Lynn . The county was named after the English county of Essex . It has two traditional county seats : Salem and Lawrence . Prior to the dissolution of the county government in 1999, Salem had jurisdiction over the Southern Essex District, and Lawrence had jurisdiction over the Northern Essex District, but currently these cities do not function as seats of government. However, the county and

1092-521: Is 35 feet (11 m) thick, shrinking to 13 feet (4.0 m) at its top. It has three sections: the central span is 900 feet (270 m), a south wing 324 feet (99 m) directs flow to the South Canal, and a 405 feet (123 m) wing directs water into the North Canal. It has a gatehouse, from which 24 gates in its sluiceway were controlled before the controls were electrified. Nearby on

1176-589: Is also the birthplace of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in 1918, and singer Robert Goulet in 1933. Native Americans lived along the Merrimack River for thousands of years before European colonization of the Americas . Evidence of farming at Den Rock Park and arrowhead manufacturing on the site where the Wood Mill now sits have been discovered. At the time of contact in the early 1600s,

1260-468: Is at the mouth of the Spicket River . Work on these two major features was completed in 1848, and development of the city, which formally incorporated in 1853, proceeded from there. The historic district encompasses, in addition to the canal and the dam, the mill-related buildings on the island and on the north side of the canal, as well as a few buildings that front on Methuen and Union Streets, or

1344-409: Is from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Essex County is home to numerous libraries and schools, both public and private. School districts include: K-12: Secondary: Elementary: As of 2015, the county had total employment of 282,412. The largest employer in the county is Massachusetts General Hospital , with over 5,000 employees. Based on deposits in the county,

1428-778: Is incorporated into towns or cities. Essex County includes the North Shore , Cape Ann , and the lower portions of the Merrimack Valley . These routes pass through Essex County: The Lawrence Municipal Airport and Beverly Municipal Airport are regional airports within the county; the nearest commercial airports are Logan Airport in Boston and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, NH. The MBTA commuter rail has two lines operating in Essex County:

1512-576: Is land and 336 square miles (870 km ) (41%) is water. Essex County is adjacent to Rockingham County, New Hampshire to the north, the Atlantic Ocean (specifically the Gulf of Maine and Massachusetts Bay ) to the east, Suffolk County to the south, Middlesex County to the west and a very small portion of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire to the far north west in Methuen . All county land

1596-675: Is now Portsmouth , were transferred to the Province of New Hampshire . The Massachusetts-based settlements were then subdivided over the centuries to produce Essex County's modern composition of cities and towns. Essex County is where Elbridge Gerry (who was born and raised in Marblehead ) created a legislative district in 1812 that gave rise to the word gerrymandering . Due to a confluence of floods, hurricanes, and severe winter storms, Essex County has had more disaster declarations than most other U.S. counties, from 1964 to 2016. From

1680-475: The 2020 United States census , Lawrence had a population of 89,143. Of which, 81.7% were Hispanic/Latino, 12.3% were non-Hispanic White, 2.3% were non-Hispanic Black, 1.7% were Asian, 0.1% were Native American or Pacific Islander, 1.9% mixed or other. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 Census, the city's population is 76,377, the population density is 10,973.7 per square mile (4237/km ), and there are 27,137 households (25,181 occupied). The racial makeup of

1764-543: The Haverhill Line and the Newburyport Line , both of which go toward Boston. Close to Boston, MBTA buses also exist. The MVRTA is a bus company that connects cities within the Merrimack Valley portion of Essex County. Because of Essex County's rich history, which includes 17th century colonial history, maritime history spanning its existence, and leadership in the expansions of the textile industry in

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1848-577: The Pennacook or Pentucket had a presence north of the Merrimack, while Massachusett , Naumkeag , and Agawam controlled territory south of the river. The territory which would later be aggregated into the city of Lawrence was purchased from Pennacooks Sagahew and Passaquo in 1642 for the English settlement of Haverhill, and from Massachusett sachem Cutshamekin in 1646 as a post-hoc payment for

1932-746: The Ruhr . The German community was characterized by numerous school clubs, shooting clubs, national and regional clubs, as well as men's choirs and mutual aid societies, many of which were clustered around the Turn Verein, a major social club on Park Street. Germans had a considerable number of churches in Lawrence, including Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (German Catholic) formed in 1887 on Lawrence Street, as well as several Protestant churches including The German Methodist Episcopal Church, Vine Street, organized in 1878; and

2016-483: The United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 7.4 square miles (19 km ), of which 7.0 square miles (18 km ) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km ) (6.07%) is water. Lawrence is on both sides of the Merrimack River, approximately 26 miles (42 km) upstream from the Atlantic Ocean . On the north side of the river, it is surrounded by Methuen . On the south side of

2100-669: The census of 2000, there were 72,043 people, 24,463 households, and 16,903 families residing in the city. The population density was 10,351.4 inhabitants per square mile (3,996.7/km ). There were 25,601 housing units at an average density of 3,678.4 per square mile (1,420.2/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 48.64% White (U.S. Average: 72.4%), 4.88% African American (U.S. Average: 12.3%), 2.65% Asian (U.S. Average: 3.6%), 0.81% Native American (U.S. Average: 0.1%), 0.10% Pacific Islander (U.S. Average: 0.1%), 36.67% from other races (U.S. Average: 5.5%), 6.25% from two or more races (U.S. Average: 2.4%). There were 24,463 households where

2184-509: The county seats of Essex County, until the state abolished county government in 1999. Lawrence is part of the Merrimack Valley . Manufacturing products of the city include electronic equipment, textiles, footwear, paper products, computers, and foodstuffs. Lawrence was the residence of the poet Robert Frost for his early school years; his essays and poems were first published in the Lawrence High School newspaper. Lawrence

2268-412: The 1880s, the first Jewish arrivals established a community around Common, Valley, Concord, and Lowell streets. As of 1922, there were at least two noteworthy congregations, both on Concord Street: Congregation of Sons of Israel (Jewish), organized October 3, 1894. Synagogue on Concord Street built in 1913; and Congregation of Anshea Sfard (Jewish), organized on April 6, 1900. The synagogue on Concord Street

2352-469: The 1920s with the Immigration Act of 1924 when foreign-born immigration to Lawrence virtually ceased for over 40 years. In 1890, the foreign-born population of 28,577 was divided as follows, with the significant remainder of the population being children of foreign-born residents: 7,058 Irish; 6,999 French Canadians; 5,131 English; 2,465 German; 1,683 English Canadian. In 1920, toward the end of

2436-563: The 1950s. The decline left Lawrence a struggling city. The population of Lawrence declined from over 80,000 residents in 1950 (and a high of 94,270 in 1920) to approximately 64,000 residents in 1980, the low point of Lawrence's population. Much of the population relocated to nearby Methuen . Like other northeastern cities suffering from the effects of post- World War II industrial decline , Lawrence has often made efforts at revitalization, some of them controversial. The Lawrence Redevelopment Authority and city officials utilized eminent domain for

2520-673: The 19th century, the entire county has been designated the Essex National Heritage Area by the National Park Service . The following areas of national significance have also been preserved: As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 743,159 people, 285,956 households, and 188,005 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,508.8 inhabitants per square mile (582.6/km ). There were 306,754 housing units at an average density of 622.8 per square mile (240.5/km ). The racial makeup of

2604-831: The Bay State Woolens Company (whose c. 1847 brick boarding house is now the visitor center of Lawrence Heritage State Park ), the Washington Mills, and buildings of the American Woolen Company and the Pemberton Mill . Other notable buildings here include the Essex Company Offices and Yard (separately listed on the National Register). The lower portion of the district is predominantly occupied by

North Canal Historic District - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-599: The Feast of Three Saints festival continues in Lawrence today. Many of the Italians who lived in the Newbury Street area had immigrated from Trecastagni , Viagrande , Acireale , and Nicolosi , Italy. French Canadians were the second major immigrant group to settle in Lawrence. In 1872, they erected their first church, St. Anne's, at the corner of Haverhill and Franklin streets. Within decades, St. Anne's established

2772-580: The German Presbyterian, East Haverhill Street, organized 1872 from which the Methodist church split in 1878. Some Italian immigrants celebrated Mass in the basement chapel of the largely Irish St. Laurence O'Toole Parish Church, at the intersection of Essex Street and Union Street. When St. Laurence O'Toole Parish had collected sufficient funds to build a new church in 1905 at the nearby intersection of East Haverhill Street and Newbery Street,

2856-521: The Italian population formed Holy Rosary Parish. Immigrants from Lentini (a comune in the Sicilian the province of Syracuse ) and from the Sicilian province of Catania maintained a particular devotion to three Catholic martyrs, Saint Alfio, Saint Filadelfo and Saint Cirino , and in 1923 began celebrating a procession on their feast day. Although most of the participants live in neighboring towns,

2940-473: The Merrimack from Methuen, and the Shawsheen River , which forms the southeastern border of the city. Lawrence has two power canals that were formerly used to provide hydropower to the mills—one on the north bank of the river, the other on the south. Channeling water into these canals is the Great Stone Dam , which lies across the entire Merrimack and was, at the time of its construction in the 1840s,

3024-470: The Pacific Mills in the upper portion of the island. Only two notable buildings survive, the c. 1906 spinning mill, and a boarding house (one of two such buildings to survive in the district) that dates to 1847 and is the only surviving remnant of what was once a much more extensive housing district. The central portion of the district includes mill buildings from a number of manufacturers, including

3108-597: The United States). Others who integrated themselves into these French-Canadian communities were actually Acadians who had left the Canadian Maritimes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia also in search of work. Lawrence residents frequently referred to their Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern community as " Syrian ". Most so-called Syrians in Lawrence were from present-day Lebanon and were largely Maronite Christian . Lebanese and Syrians mostly settled in

3192-407: The age of 18 living with them, 47.9% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.3% were non-families, and 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.14. The median age was 40.4 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 64,153 and the median income for

3276-452: The area, connecting people to the places of Essex County, MA. The commission's mission is to promote and preserve the historic, cultural and natural resources of the ENHA by rallying community support around saving the character of the area. This is accomplished through the commission's projects and programs, which include Partnership Grant Program, Explorers membership program, photo safaris, and

3360-434: The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.46. In the city, the population had a median age was 30.0 years (U.S. Average: 35.3): For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 25,983 (U.S. Average: $ 41,994), and the median income for a family was $ 29,809 (U.S. Average: $ 50,046). Males had

3444-420: The character of the center of Lawrence. Lawrence also attempted to increase its employment base by attracting industries unwanted in other communities, such as waste treatment facilities and incinerators. From 1980 until 1998, private corporations operated two trash incinerators in Lawrence. Activist residents successfully blocked the approval of a waste treatment center on the banks of the Merrimack River near

North Canal Historic District - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-705: The cheaper farmlands of the Midwest that had been linked to the East Coast by rail, settled in corners of Lawrence. Congregationalists were the second Protestant denomination to begin worship in Lawrence after the Episcopalians , with the formation of the Lawrence Street Congregational Church in 1847, and the first in South Lawrence, with the erection in 1852 of the first South Congregational Church on South Broadway, near

3612-453: The city (formerly parts of Andover and Methuen ), was purchased by a consortium of local industrialists. The Water Power Association members: Abbott Lawrence , Edmund Bartlett, Thomas Hopkinson of Lowell , John Nesmith and Daniel Saunders , had purchased control of Peter's Falls on the Merrimack River and hence controlled Bodwell's Falls the site of the present Great Stone Dam . The group allotted fifty thousand dollars to buy land along

3696-585: The city and the world flocked to the city in droves; many were Irish laborers who had experience with similar building work. The work was dangerous: injuries and even death were common. Working conditions in the mills were unsafe and in 1860 the Pemberton Mill collapsed, killing 145 workers. As immigrants flooded into the United States in the mid to late 19th century, the population of Lawrence abounded with skilled and unskilled workers from several countries. Protesting conditions, in 1912 they walked out of

3780-573: The city in 2016 was 16.6% non-Hispanic white, 7.8% Black or African American, 2.8% Asian (1.2% Cambodian, 0.7% Vietnamese, 0.3% Pakistani, 0.2% Indian, 0.2% Chinese, 0.1% Korean), 0.4% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 39.3% some other race, 2.7% two or more races, and 77.1% of the population is Hispanic or Latino (of any race) (47.0% Dominican, 21.7% Puerto Rican, 3.0% Guatemalan, 0.7% Salvadoran, 0.7% Spanish, 0.6% Cuban, 0.5% Ecuadorian, 0.5% Mexican, 0.2% Honduran, 0.2% Colombian, 0.1% Venezuelan, 0.1% Nicaraguan, 0.1% Peruvian). As of

3864-500: The connecting side streets. The 2009 expansion of the district, included a single building, the Morehouse Bakery building at 5-9 Mill Street. The Great Stone Dam was constructed across the Merrimack River at a place called Bodwell's Falls, where there is a five-foot drop. The dam was built to raise the height of the drop to 30 feet (9.1 m). It is made of granite blocks laid on a bed of hydraulic cement. At its base it

3948-433: The corner of Andover Street. Baptist churches included The First Baptist Church, one of the first churches in Lawrence, which was organized in the spring of 1947 and was known as Amesbury Street Baptist Church. Second Baptist was organized on September 6, 1860; its building was dedicated in 1874. Immigration of foreign-born workers to Lawrence largely ceased in 1921 with the passage of strict quotas against immigrants from

4032-727: The countries that had supplied the cheap, unskilled workers. Although many quotas were lifted after the Second World War, foreign immigration to Lawrence only increased again in the early 1960s, with Hispanic immigrants from Cuba , Puerto Rico , the Dominican Republic , and other Latin American countries. Immigrants from Southeast Asia , particularly Vietnam , have also settled in Lawrence. Indicative of immigration trends, several Catholic churches now conduct masses in two or more languages. St. Patrick 's Church,

4116-440: The county region, but there is no county council, commissioner, or county employees. Communities are now granted the right to form their own regional compacts for sharing services. Essex County is roughly diamond-shaped and occupies the northeastern corner of the state of Massachusetts. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 828 square miles (2,140 km ), of which 493 square miles (1,280 km )

4200-410: The county was 81.9% White, 3.8% Black or African American, 3.1% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 8.2% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 16.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.3% were Irish , 17.1% were Italian , 12.6% were English , 6.1% were German , and 3.6% were American . Of the 285,956 households, 32.9% had children under

4284-483: The current site of Salvatore's Pizza on Merrimack Street. Recently the focus of Lawrence's urban renewal has shifted to preservation rather than sprawl. Immigrants from the Dominican Republic and migrants from Puerto Rico began arriving in Lawrence in significant numbers in the late 1960s, attracted by cheap housing and a history of tolerance toward immigrants. In 1984, tensions between remaining working-class whites and increasing numbers of Hispanic youth flared into

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4368-554: The development of a medical sciences center, the construction of which commenced in 2012 when the InTown Mall was finally removed. A large multi-structure fire in January 2008 destroyed many wooden structures just south of downtown. A poor financial situation that has worsened with the recent global recession and has led to multiple municipal layoffs had Lawrence contemplating receivership . On February 9, 2019, in recognition of

4452-542: The development of the shoe and textile industries, and the growth and decline of the maritime industries, including fishing, privateering, and the China trade. The Essex National Heritage Area is one of 49 heritage areas designated by Congress, affiliated with the National Park Service. The Essex National Heritage Commission is a non-profit organization chartered to promote tourism and cultural awareness of

4536-599: The district. The oldest standing building, a storehouse, dates to 1860, and there are remnants of an earlier 1852 structure. One of the more impressive structures is the Weave Shed built in 1890; it is a two-story brick building 300 feet (91 m) long. Its main cotton complex comprises five buildings on the north side of the canal. In the central part of the district the Pacific Mills include buildings in which both cotton and worsted wool products were manufactured. The Atlantic Mill Company buildings stand next to those of

4620-671: The districts remain as administrative regions recognized by various governmental agencies, which gathered vital statistics or disposed of judicial case loads under these geographic subdivisions, and are required to keep the records based on them. The county has been designated the Essex National Heritage Area by the National Park Service . The county was created by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on May 10, 1643, when it

4704-615: The early 1990s, was founded by Elias Kapelson, born in Lithuania . Jacob Sandler arrived in Lawrence in June 1891 (1906, his two brothers (Isaac and Sundel arrived), and 3 other brothers also arrived in the early 1900s. Jacob opened a shoe business at 434 Broadway and earned enough income to purchase the property at 256–258 Essex St starting Sandler's Department Store, it later became Sandler's Luggage which continued under his son, Simon Sandler, and later his grandson, Robert Sandler until 1978. In

4788-747: The early 1990s. Since the 1990s, increasing numbers of former Catholic churches, closed since the 1980s when their Irish or Italian congregations died out, have been bought by Hispanic evangelical churches. The 2000 Census revealed the following population breakdown, illustrating the shift toward newer immigrant groups: Dominican Republic, 22%; other Hispanic or Latino, 12%; Irish, 7%; Italian, 7%, French (except Basque), 5%; Black or African American, 5%; French Canadian, 5%; English, 3%; Arab, 2%; German, 2%; Lebanese, 2%; Central American, 1%; Polish, 1%; Portuguese, 1%; Guatemalan, 1%; Vietnamese, 1%; South American, 1%; Spanish, 1%; Cambodian, 1%; Scottish, 1%; Cuban, 1%; Scotch-Irish, 1%; Ecuadoran, 1%. According to

4872-485: The final remaining mills in the city is Malden Mills . Lawrence's downtown has seen a resurgence of business activity as Hispanic-owned businesses have opened along Essex Street, the historic shopping street of Lawrence that remained largely shuttered since the 1970s. In June 2007, the city approved the sale of the Intown Mall, largely abandoned since the early 1990s recession, to Northern Essex Community College for

4956-865: The first wave of immigration, most ethnic groups had numerous social clubs in the city. The Portuguese had 2; the English had 2; the Jews had 3; the Armenians, 5; the Lebanese and Syrians, 6; the Irish, 8; the Polish, 9; the French Canadians and Belgian-French, 14; the Lithuanians, 18; the Italians, 32; and the Germans, 47. However, the center of social life, even more than clubs or fraternal organizations,

5040-739: The five largest banks are TD Bank, N.A. , Salem Five Cents Bank , Institution for Savings , Bank of America , and Eastern Bank . On November 12, 1996, Essex National Heritage Area (ENHA) was authorized by Congress. The heritage area consists of all of Essex County, MA a 500-square-mile (1,300 km ) area between the Atlantic Coast and the Merrimack Valley. The area includes 34 cities and towns; two National Historic Sites (Salem Maritime National Historic Site and Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site); and thousands of historic sites and districts that illuminate colonial settlement,

5124-422: The formation of both Lithuanian Catholic and Lithuanian National Catholic churches. St. Francis (Lithuanian Catholic Church) on Bradford Street was formed in 1903 by Rev. James T. O'Reilly of St. Mary's, in a building previously occupied by St. John's Episcopal Church. The church closed in 2002, merging with Holy Trinity (Polish) and SS. Peter and Paul (Portuguese). Sacred Heart Lithuanian National Catholic Church

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5208-881: The founding of the Republican Party until the New Deal, Essex County was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections. Since 1936, it has trended Democratic, with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 being the only Republicans to carry the county since. Like several other Massachusetts counties , Essex County exists today only as a historical geographic region, and has no county government. All former county functions were assumed by state agencies in 1999. The sheriff (currently Kevin Coppinger ), district attorney (currently Paul Tucker ), and some other regional officials with specific duties are still elected locally to perform duties within

5292-488: The island are also the surviving gatekeeper's house, an 1845 Greek Revival wood-frame structure, and a c. 1860s barn. The North Canal runs parallel to the Merrimack River, and is 5,330 feet (1,620 m) long. It ranges in width from 100 feet (30 m) at its upper end to 30 feet (9.1 m) where its wasteway joins the Spicket River. The canal is trapezoidal in its cross-section, with walls lined by granite, and

5376-654: The lands surrounding the English settlement of Andover (modern-day North Andover center). Europeans first settled the Haverhill area in 1640, colonists from Newbury following the Merrimack River in from the coast. The area that would become Lawrence was then part of Methuen and Andover. The first settlement within present-day city limits came in 1655 with the establishment of a blockhouse in Shawsheen Fields, now South Lawrence. The future site of

5460-412: The largest dam in the world. The highest point in Lawrence is the top of Tower Hill in the northwest corner of the city, rising approximately 240 feet (73 m) above sea level. Other prominent hills include Prospect Hill, in the northeastern corner of the city, and Mount Vernon, along the southern edge of the city. Most industrial activity was concentrated in the flatlands along the rivers. Den Rock Park,

5544-612: The mill complexes of the Everett Mills and the Kuhnhardt Woolen Mills. Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts , United States, on the Merrimack River . At the 2020 census , the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the east. Lawrence and Salem were

5628-413: The mill owners decided to settle, giving workers in Lawrence and throughout New England raises of up to 20 percent. However, as a young Massachusetts Senator, John F. Kennedy was later to record, in the decades that followed the mill owners moved their capital and employment out of Lawrence and the region to the non-union South. Lawrence was a great wool-processing center until that industry declined in

5712-450: The mills. The action, sometimes celebrated as the Bread and Roses Strike, was one of the more important, widely reported, labor struggles in American history. The Industrial Workers of the World (the "One Big Union", the "Wobblies") defied the common wisdom that a largely female and ethnically divided workforce could not be organized, and the strike held through two bitterly cold winter months. The young 15-year mill hand Fred Beal , who

5796-508: The neighborhoods of North Lawrence such as Tower Hill along with Prospect Hill. Lebanese immigrants organized St. Anthony 's Maronite Church in 1903 on the corner of Lebanon Street and Lawrence Street, and St. Joseph's Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, as well as St. George 's Antiochian Orthodox Church . Jewish merchants became increasingly numerous in Lawrence and specialized in dry goods and retail shops. The fanciest men's clothing store in Lawrence, Kap's, established in 1902 and closed in

5880-458: The river to develop. In 1844, the group petitioned the legislature to act as a corporation, known as the Essex Company , which incorporated on April 16, 1845. The first excavations for the Great Stone Dam to harness the Merrimack River's water power were done on August 1, 1845. The Essex Company would sell the water power to corporations such as the Arlington Mills , as well as organize the construction of mills and build to suit. Until 1847, when

5964-402: The river, the town is bordered by North Andover to the east, and Andover to the south and southwest. Lawrence is approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Newburyport , 30 miles (48 km) north-northwest of Boston and 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Manchester, New Hampshire . Aside from the Merrimack River , other water features include the Spicket River , which flows into

6048-456: The role the town has played in the labor movement, Senator Elizabeth Warren officially announced her candidacy for President of the United States in Lawrence. On September 13, 2018, a series of gas explosions and fires broke out in as many as 40 homes in Lawrence, Andover , and North Andover . The disaster killed one resident and caused over 30,000 customers to evacuate their homes. A year after this first incident on September 27, 2019, there

6132-413: The salaries of all the now unemployed workers while the factory was being rebuilt. A sharp reduction in violent crime starting in 2004 and massive private investment in former mill buildings along the Merrimack River, including the remaining section of the historic Wood Worsted Mill —to be converted into commercial, residential and education uses – have lent encouragement to boosters of the city. One of

6216-460: The social upheaval in Germany in 1848, Swedes fleeing an overcrowded Sweden, and French Canadians seeking to escape hard northern farm life from the 1850s onward. A second wave began arriving after 1900, as part of the great mass of Italian and Eastern European immigrants, including Jews from Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and neighboring regions. Immigration to the United States was severely curtailed in

6300-431: The state legislature recognized the community as a town, it was called interchangeably the "New City", "Essex" or "Merrimac". The post office, built in 1846, used the designation "Merrimac". The city was incorporated in 1853, and named for Abbott Lawrence. Canals were dug on both the north and the south banks to provide power to the factories that would soon be built on its banks as both mill owners and workers from across

6384-543: Was also razed, destroying ornate movie palaces of the 1920s and 1930s that entertained mill workers through the Great Depression and the Second World War. The city's main post office, an ornate Federalist-style building at the corner of Broadway and Essex Street, was razed. Most of the structures were replaced with one-story, steel-frame structures with large parking lots, housing such establishments as fast food restaurants and chain drug stores, fundamentally changing

6468-404: Was another gas leak causing people to evacuate their homes again. Lawrence has been aptly nicknamed the "Immigrant City". It has been home to numerous different immigrant communities, most of whom arrived during the great wave of European immigration to America that ended in the 1920s. Lawrence became home to large groups of immigrants from Europe, beginning with the Irish in 1845, Germans after

6552-414: Was built in the autumn of 1907. In the 1920s, the Jews of Lawrence began congregating further up Tower Hill, where they erected two synagogues on Lowell Street above Milton Street, as well as a Jewish Community Center on nearby Haverhill Street. All three institutions had closed their doors by 1990 as the remaining elderly members of the community died out or moved away. The Polish community of Lawrence

6636-492: Was churches. Lawrence is dotted with churches, many now closed, torn down, or converted into other uses. These churches signify, more than any other artifacts, the immigrant communities that once lived within walking distance of each church. The first sizable German community arrived following the revolutions of 1848. However, a larger German community was formed after 1871, when industrial workers from Saxony were displaced by economic competition from new industrial areas like

6720-464: Was drawn by the experience into a lifetime of labor organizing, recalls that contrary to expectations, it was the most recent immigrant groups, "the Italians, Poles, Syrians [Lebanese] and Franco-Belgians ", who "kept it alive. After hundreds of the strikers' hungry children had been sent to sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont, and the U.S. Congress was induced to hold hearings,

6804-510: Was established in 1917 and located on Garden Street until its closure and sale in 2001. A sizable English community, composed mainly of unskilled laborers who arrived after 1880, sought work in the textile mills where they were given choice jobs by the Yankee overseers on account of their shared linguistic heritage and close cultural links. Not all immigrants to Lawrence were foreign-born or their children. Yankee farmers, unable to compete against

6888-569: Was estimated to be only 600–800 persons in 1900. However, by 1905, the community had expanded sufficiently to fund the construction of the Holy Trinity Church at the corner of Avon and Trinity streets. Their numbers grew to 2,100 Poles in 1910. Like many of their immigrant brethren from other nations, most of the Poles were employed in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing. Lawrence had a sizable enough Lithuanian community to warrant

6972-545: Was founded by industrialist Abbott Lawrence and the associates of the Essex Company as a model industrial city. In 1845 they company acquired land from then towns of Methuen and Andover and began construction on the North Canal and the Great Stone Dam. The work included dredging and building out of "new land", and effectively created a small island between the Merrimack River and the canal, whose outlet

7056-612: Was ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires ". Named after the county in England , Essex then comprised the towns of Salem , Lynn , Wenham , Ipswich , Rowley , Newbury , Gloucester and Andover . In 1680, Haverhill , Amesbury and Salisbury , located north of the Merrimack River , were annexed to Essex County. These communities had been part of Massachusetts' colonial-era Norfolk County (1643–1680). The remaining four towns within "Old" Norfolk County, which included Exeter and what

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