Interior House Painter Lawrence MA

Lawrence, Massachusetts
City
North Canal
Flag Seal
Motto(s):  Industria (Latin) “Industry”
Location in Essex County and the state of Massachusetts.
Lawrence Location in the United States Show map of Massachusetts Lawrence Lawrence (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 42°42′25″N 71°09′49″W / 42.70694°N 71.16361°W / 42.70694; -71.16361Coordinates: 42°42′25″N 71°09′49″W / 42.70694°N 71.16361°W / 42.70694; -71.16361
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Essex
Region	New England
Settled	1655
Incorporated	1847
Incorporated (city)	1853
Founded by	Essex Company
Named for	Abbott Lawrence
Government
• Type	Mayor-council city
• Mayor	Brian De Peña
• City Council	Marc LaPlante (Council President) Estela Reyes (Vice-President) Pavel Payano (at-large) Celina Reyes (at-large) Ana Levy (at-large) Maria De La Cruz (District A) Gregory Del Rosario (District B) Jeovanny A. Rodriguez (District D) Stephany Infante (District E)
Area
• Total	7.43 sq mi (19.24 km2)
• Land	6.93 sq mi (17.95 km)
• Water	0.50 sq mi (1.29 km2)
Elevation	16 ft (5 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	89,143
• Density	12,863.35/sq mi (4,966.73/km)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDST)
ZIP Codes	01840–01843
Area code	351/978
FIPS code	25-34550
Website	www.cityoflawrence.com

Lawrence is a smaller sized city of just under 7 square miles 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 the county seats of Essex County, until the Commonwealth 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 poet Robert Frost for his early school years; his essays and poems were first published in the Lawrence High School newspaper. Lawrence is also the Birth Place of singer Robert Goulet who was born Haverhill St. in 1933.

History

Indigenous history

Native Americans lived along the Merrimack River for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. Evidence of farming at Den Rock Park and arrowhead manufacturing on the site of where the Wood Mill now sits have been discovered.

At the time of contact in the early 1600s, 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 the lands surrounding the English settlement of Andover (modern day North Andover center).

Founding and rise as a textile 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 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 the river to develop.^: 11 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.^: 17 The Essex Company would sell the water power to corporations such as the Arlington Mills, as well as organize construction of mills and build to suit. Until 1847, when the state legislature recognized the community as a town, it was called interchangeably the “New City”, “Essex” or “Merrimac”.^: 23 The post office, built in 1846, used the designation “Merrimac”. Incorporation as a city would come in 1853, and the name “Lawrence”, merely chosen as a token of respect to Abbott Lawrence, who it cannot be verified ever saw the city named after him.

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 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.

Bread and Roses Strike of 1912

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 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.