The New Student's Reference Work/Lawrence (Massachusetts)

Lawrence, an important manufacturing city in Massachusetts, one of the county-seats of Essex Co., is built on both sides of Merrimac River, 26 miles north of Boston, with which it is connected by two railroads. The river, which here falls 28 feet in half a mile, is crossed by two railroad and two other bridges and by a dam of granite, 900 feet long and forty feet high; canals on either bank conduct the water to the mills. The mills, some of which are among the largest in the world, manufacture cotton and woolen goods, cloth and paper; and engines, boilers, machinery, clothing, hats etc. are also produced here. The woolen goods industry is of first importance, employing more than 11,000 people in two mills, while a third mill, making both cotton and woolen goods, employs over 5,000. Like her sister city Boston, Lawrence has a common of 17 acres in the center of the city, around which are many noteworthy public buildings and churches. The public school system is admirable, and includes evening schools for the employed. Other institutions of which the city is justly proud are the high school, the free public library, the Orphan Asylum and a Home for Aged People. Population 85,892.