Lawrence, city in Essex County, northeastern Massachusetts, on the Merrimack River, near Lowell. Manufactures of the city include electronic equipment, textiles, footwear, paper products, computers, and foodstuffs. A community college is in Lawrence. Europeans first settled in the area in 1640. The site of the city was purchased in 1845 by a group of Boston industrialists headed by the American businessman and congressman Abbott Lawrence, the community's namesake. The city was incorporated in 1853. The industrialists intended to establish textile mills near a source of abundant waterpower. However, working conditions in factories were unsafe and in 1860 a factory collapsed and killed 88 workers. In 1912 the so-called Bread and Roses strike, one of the major labor actions of American history, began when textile-mill owners increased the speed of factory looms and lowered wages for thousands of women and child workers. The state's National Guard and private and city police were sent in against 23,000 strikers for two months, resulting in numerous deaths and mass arrests. When police and militia assaulted a group of women and children, public outcry helped force mill owners to capitulate. The striking workers won wage increases for themselves and thousands of workers in New England mills.
Lawrence was a great wool-processing center until that industry declined in the 1950s; subsequent economic diversification in Lawrence began in that decade. Population 63,175 (1980); 70,207 (1990); 72,043 (2000).Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Lawrence Information info
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