Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA
1854 - Lawrence

Lawrence, a post-town and semicapital of Essex county, Massachusetts, on the left (N.) bank of the Merrimack river, 26 miles N. from Boston, and 12 miles N. E. by E. from Lowell. This is one of those wonderful creations of the manufacturing enterprise of New England, under the influence of which, a petty village, or perhaps a tract without inhabitants, is almost instantaneously converted into a populous city. In 1845 the Essex company constructed a dam across the Merrimack river at this place, by which a fall of 28 feet in the entire volume of the river has been obtained. The work cost about $250,000. A canal, more than a mile long, and from 60 to 100 feet wide, and about 12 feet deep, con ducts the water from the dam to the different mills. The town is laid out on both sides of the Spicket river, but chiefly between the Spicket and Merrimack, with streets extending from river to river. Near the centre is a handsome common, comprising 17 1/ 2 acres. The principal public buildings are a town house, 120 by 62 feet, containing town offices in the lower story, and in the second a large hall for public meetings, a jail just completed, and 10 or 12 churches.

Among the literary and educational institutions may be mentioned the Franklin Literary Association, incorporated April 26th, 1847. Besides other donations, one of $1000 was received from the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, for the purchase of scientific works. Means have also been provided for the maintenance of public lectures. Lawrence has an excellent system of public schools. Two or three newspapers are published in the town. The financial institutions are a bank with a capital of $300,000, and a savings' institution.

The Essex Company commenced their ope rations upon the dam August 1st, 1845. During the session of the legislature of 1846 charters were granted to the following corporations, to be located at Lawrence, viz. February 2d, the Bay State Mills, for the manufacture of woollen and other goods, with a capital of $1,000,000; February 3d, the Atlantic Cotton Mills, with a capital of $2,000,000, and March 26th, the Union Mills, for the production of cotton, woollen, and linen goods, with a capital of $1,000,000. Other companies, with heavy capitals, have since been incorporated. The machine shop owned by the Essex Company is one of the largest of the kind in the United States. It is a stone building 400 by 60 feet, and 4 stories high, and, with the foundry, furnishes employment to about 1000 hands. The Bay State Corporation have a building adjoining the river 998 feet long, and varying from 3 to 5 stories in height, with wings each 240 feet in length, and 3 stories high. The entire building is appropriated to the various purposes of woollen manufacturing, such as dyeing, drying, assorting, repair shop, &c. The manufactures of Lawrence comprise nearly every article embraced in the various branches of mechanical industry. A highly intelligent correspondent, who has every means necessary to form a correct judgment, assures us that when the mills and other buildings now in course of construction are completed, the present population of Lawrence will be doubled. The town is lighted with gas, and supplied with an abundance of pure water from the Merrimack river. Incorporated in 1847, and named in honor of the Lawrence family. The first sale of land by the Essex Company was on the 29th of April, 184(i. January 1st, 1848, the population was not less than 6000 ; in 1850, 8283; and in 1853, about 12,000.

A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

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