USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > Lawrence yesterday and today (1845-1918) a concise history of Lawrence Massachusetts - her industries and institutions; municipal statistics and a variety of information concerning the city > Part 3
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Another early trader was John C. Dow who for several years conducted a book and stationery store. John Colby opened a similar establishment about the same time, October 15, 1846. The first dry goods dealer was Artemus W. Stearns who opened a store on Ames- bury street in 1846. Mr. Stearns erected the building on Essex street in 1854, which is now a part of the block occupied by the A. B. Sutherland Company. The first clothing dealer was William R.
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FIRST COMERS TO "NEW CITY"
Spalding who came here in 1846. Hezekiah Plummer, the first lumber dealer, erected a steam mill in South Lawrence for supplying lumber for the growing wants of the new town. Joseph Couch was the first trial justice. The first druggist was Nathaniel Wilson who came June 24, 1846. The first baker was Jeremiah S. Field who commenced running a cart Monday, January 25, 1847. The first mechanic locating in Lawrence was Henry Goodell who came here in the employ of the Essex Company, May 15, 1845. The first attorney was Henry Flanders who settled here March 10, 1846. Dr. Moses L. Atkinson, the first physician in Lawrence, opened an office on Turnpike street (Broadway) on January 1, 1846.
On February 6, 1849, the Lawrence Brass Band was organized. This early musical organization still exists. The first private school was opened on March 1, 1847, in the Essex Company's building on Turnpike street, which was later removed to the "plains". The first grammar school was established in 1848 on the site of the Unitarian church on Jackson street. The following year the High school was opened.
The pioneer Shawsheen House, the Oak Street House, the Mon- tezuma and the United States Hotel were among the first hostelries, the last mentioned being destroyed by fire on August 12, 1859. Another was the Coburn House, opened in November, 1847, by the Essex Company, now greatly enlarged and cailed the Franklin House. The Merrimack House was built about the same time at the corner of Broadway and Tremont street. This was burned in 1849, and not rebuilt. The Franklin is the only one of the early hotels to remain. The first boarding house was opened by Timothy Osgood at 2 Turnpike street on December 4, 1845. This was the first dwelling house raised here after the starting of operations on the dam.
The first brick store buildings on the south side were erected by J. N. Gage, near the bridge, in 1846; the first on the north side by Albert and Joseph Smith and Daniel Floyd on Common street below Newbury street. Ground was broken for the first block of brick stores on Essex street, afterwards known as Merchants Row, about the first of January, 1847.
The first fraternal organization here, a lodge of Odd Fellows, was organized May 10, 1847. Cround was broken for the first mill, the Bay State, June 9, 1846. The first postoffice was opened September 7, 1846, and named Merrimack. The first house of worship was erected by Grace Episcopal church in 1846. The first printing ever executed here was a handbill issued September 26, 1846, announcing that the Merrimack Courier would be issued October 9. The first brick for a brick block was laid August 12, 1846. It was the block at the corner of Methuen and Hampshire streets, being No. I of the Atlantic Mills boarding houses.
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
The first grocery store was opened in 1845 on the south side of the river by Josiah Crosby. This store with stock was afterward bought by Joseph Shattuck, who, with his brother Charles, conducted the business in the brick block, built by them on Essex street, until 1887, when they retired and were succeeded by Henry A. Buell & Co. This block is now occupied by the Lawrence Gas Company, and the Buell concern is doing business at the corner of Common and Newbury streets.
EARLY HISTORY OF LAWRENCE
DANIEL SAUNDERS FOUNDER OF THE CITY
ABBOTT LAWRENCE OF THE FAMILY FOR WHOM CITY WAS NAMED
CHARLES S. STORROW THE FIRST MAYOR
The history of the territory, now comprised within the limits of the city, as Lawrence literally begins with the incorporation of the town, though the foundation from which the town sprung, and upon which the city grew, was started on August 1, 1845, with the excavat- ing for the great stone dam of the Essex Company. When the Town of Lawrence was incorporated, April 17, 1847, the gigantic scheme of establishing a textile centre about Bodwell's Falls was well under way. In 1846 the construction of several of the mills was commenced, as was also the erection of an immense machine shop and foundry.
At the time the Essex Company began operations here the population was probably not over 200. But population rapidly follow- ed enterprise. A boarding house was erected on the Turnpike. The frame was raised on September 12, 1845, and on December 4 following the finished house was occupied by Timothy Osgood who not un- frequently lodged all the way from 100 to 200 beneath his roof. The rush was so great that no one thought of complaining of the lack of proper accommodations, if he were fortunate enough to gain admis- sion inside a dwelling. For two years the rush for houses continued almost unabated. Some of the laborers in the employ of the Essex Company walked nearly three miles every morning and night for months, so lacking were housing accommodations.
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. LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
The news of the "new city" building attracted a great influx of mechanics and laborers into the whirlpool of activity, a term which probably best describes the scene during the construction period. There were no idle men, no idle teams. Every one was employed. Masons, carpenters, stone cutters, laborers were all doing their utmost. Laborers earned at that time 84 cents to $1.00 per day ; mechanics, $1.50 to $2.00 per day.
In all the region in which the city now stands there was no spot where one could escape the din and dust of bustling industry. Beginning at the gneiss ledge, situated nearly two miles south, the stone from which composes the river wall and mill foundations,-or at North Andover, three miles east, then the depository of bricks and lumber by railway,-or at Pelham, some eight miles west, from whence came the granite for the dam, there was an almost endless string of slow plodding teams, loaded to the utmost, all centering from the dam to the Spicket River to deposit their loads. But here were not the only signs of activity. All over the place buildings were rising with most astonishing celerity. For 12 hours a day the heavy teams, here removing hills, there filling valleys, or loaded with building materials, plodded through the suffocating dust of dry weather, or the almost bottomless mud of the rainy season. For months together the railway company delivered from Ico,cco to 200,000 bricks per day at North Andover, all destined for the "new city".
The year 1846 saw the greatest number of big enterprises started, and this year and 1847 and 1848 might be regarded as a group of years forming the construction period, when nothing was manufactured for market and little productive machinery was operated. Sums, then considered vast, were expended in perfecting the huge plants designed to use the water power developed by the dam. The financial resources of the Essex Company were taxed to the utmost, and the confidence of its stockholders was severely tested at this time. The plan was of such magnitude that it required years for completion, and there could be no hope for an immediate return on the money invested.
Gaze, in imagination, upon the scene in the autumn of 1847, when the town was still in the first year of its infancy, and the following features will appear prominent. The heavy work on the dam was well in progress, the grading and walls of the canal taking shape along the north bank of the river ; the Atlantic Mills were going up where they (what is left of them) now stand, the Bay State Mills were rising into view at the present site of the Washington Mills, and, below, upon the Spicket bank, the stone building of the great Machine Shop and Foundry, now the property of the Everett Mills, was coming into view. Boarding houses were in the process of construction for ex- pected operatives ; large saw mills, with a lumber dock and yard, were in operation at "Essex Yard", so-called; four projected railway lines
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAWRENCE
were rapidly approaching the new town ; groups of dwellings were scattered here and there upon the wide area, and, before electric lighting, gas, or kerosene even, the darkness, on starless nights, was profound ; there was not a paved street, permanent sidewalk or public sewer. To the southwest of the dam, and above the north end of same, were the shanty villages, built upon leased land by Irish laborers who were attracted to the site by news of the "new city". These were the vanguard of a coming host, then new to the country. Many of them brought their whole wardrobe upon their backs, their entire possessions in a small bundle, but, by hard labor and thrifty ways, they attained to substantial competence. The shanty has given place to a modern dwelling, and their descendents are prominent in the professional and business life of the community.
All these enterprises, excepting the work at the Bay State Mills and upon the railroad lines, were carried along simultaneously by the Essex Company.
April 28, 1846, the first public sale of lands was made by the Essex Company. The highest price then obtained was for a lot at the corner of Jackson and Essex streets, which realized 70 cents per square foot. Today this same lot is worth about $12.50 a square foot. Much land passed to individual ownership at that sale. The second public sale of land by the company did not occur until December 6, 1855, when 600 lots, located in almost every part of the city, were offered for sale.
On September 7, 1846, a postoffice was opened in a little building on the Turnpike, within a stone's throw of the site of the present postoffice building. The coming of this important adjunct of a busy community took many by surprise. The idea of establishing a post- office here originated with George A. Waldo of Methuen, whose son, George Albert Waldo, was made the postmaster. The work of secur- ing the necessary support of the idea at Washington was performed by Samuel J. Varney of Lowell, and at his suggestion the office took the name of Merrimack. Prior to this, from the commencement of operations on the dam, the place was known by such names as "New City", "Essex", "Andover Bridge", etc.
In 1846 and early 1847, there was a large accession to the population. Mechanics, merchants, physicians and lawyers began to locate here, and order commenced rising out of chaos. In 1846, the first religious service was held, and by the following year most of the leading sects were established here. In October, 1846, the first news- paper was issued under the name of The Merrimack Courier, by J. F. C. Hayes.
The name of Merrimack, given officially to the place by the establishment of the postoffice, was continued until the Town of Lawrence was set off from Methuen and Andover by legislative
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
enactment in the winter of 1847, which separation, by the way, was made in face of strong opposition from both towns. The question had arisen just prior to this as to what name the proposed town should take, and, on January 13, 1847. a meeting of a considerable number of residents was held in the office of the Essex Company, with a view to an understanding. The name of Lawrence was agreed upon as a token of respect to a distinguished family of that name, two of whom, Abbott and Samuel, were among the most energetic business men in New England. In fact, in point of investment the family had as great an interest here as had all others combined. They had staked a fortune on the success of the project, and Abbott, as the first president of the Essex Company, and Samuel, as the head of the Bay State Corporation, were prominently identified with all the leading enter- prises. Naturally, their family name was embodied in the petition to the legislature for the town charter. So when, on April 17, 1847, the charter was granted, the town became known as Lawrence, and the city has retained that name.
In accordance with the provisions of the charter, the first town meeting was held on April 26 in Merrimack Hall ( on the corner of Jackson and Common streets, then the largest hall in the place), and the first town officers were elected and moneys appropriated for the various functions of the government. At this meeting the nucleus of the present police department was formed with the appointment of 10 constables, and the community which had lived hitherto almost without law, in territorial independence, came under proper restraints. Money was voted for the purchase of two hand engines for the fire department, just organized. Prior to that the only apparatus for fighting fires was the "Essex", the first fire engine in use here, which had been purchased by the Essex Company and manned by its workmen. This engine was sold to the town and was soon followed by more powerful machines and hose and hook and ladder companies until, at the introduction of the steam fire engine, the department was well equipped.
At the same town meeting money was also voted for two school houses to augment the accommodations of the three little district schools that had served since and prior to the laying of the foundation of the dam. The year following, 1848, two grammar schools were opened, and in January, 1849, the High school was established. This was the beginning of the fine public school system of which the people of Lawrence are so justly proud. In 1847, an important educational institution was also established in the Franklin Library, founded by private subscription, which in 1872 was donated to the city and. formed the basis of the present well equipped Public Library.
The first bank, the Bay State, afterward becoming known as the Bay State National and the only national bank in the city today, was
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAWRENCE
established in 1847, as a bank of discount. In October of the same year, the first savings institution, the Essex Savings Bank, was started.
In 1847, the Bay State Mills, the Atlantic Mills and the Essex Company formed into an association and erected suitable buildings for the manufacture of gas for their own use. In February, 1849, the association disbanded. and a stock company, known as the Lawrence Gas Company, took over the works and began lighting the streets and running its pipes into private residences.
At the time of the first town meeting the people were compar- atively strangers to one another, and it was somewhat difficult to select for office, according to the usual rule, by party lines. Therefore, the best possible selection for town officers was made irrespective of party. Not so the following year, when party lines were sharply drawn and the election of town officers was one of the most animated ever held in this vicinity. Ballot after ballot, without effecting a choice of officers, consumed the day and the business which was to be acted upon was not half finished when night compelled an adjourn- ment. The sites for the Town hall and Oliver school house were among the questions laid over. These articles in the warrant came up at an adjourned meeting. No one seemed inclined to interfere with the arrangement in regard to the school house, but when the question of the location of the hall came in order to be acted upon, there was a noisy opposition to every proposition for location, with no definite aim at reconciliation. The matter was finally determined, however, and the present building erected.
1715767
The year 1848 was one of the most progressive years in the early history of Lawrence. In that year the group of industrial enterprises in construction was practically completed and some cloth manufac- tured, though it was not until 1849 that the production of goods for market commenced at the several mills, and machinery was turned out at the great machine shop. In later years the building of other mills followed, and new enterprise, taking up this phase of the work of the Essex Company, encouraged the growth of the city's industries. The dam was completed in September of 1848, and the water was turned into the North canal.
It was during 1848 that streets and parks were laid out and suit- able drainage provided. One might think to look over the valley stretching between Prospect and Tower Hills, that the civil engineers of the Essex Company, when they began operations here, had a snap in laying out streets and lots. But the present land surface offers little suggestion of what the original was.
Deep gullies cut up the valley, through which little water courses ran to the river. One of them was so long and important that the company built a costly stone culvert through it. Vast amounts of filling were necessary, for while an Indian trail could run down a
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
steep path into a gully and up again on the other side, the great drays which were destined to team the product of the busy multitude that would throng the valley, would need to travel in lines of far less resistance. Then too, there would come the problem of drainage, with the need of continuous and fairly uniform gradients.
The big stone culvert which the Essex Company built served Lawrence for a main sewer for many years. The course of the culvert was quite a circuitous one, and it played a very important part in the early plans of the city sanitation. For years it received all the house drainage and street wash between Jackson street and Broadway, and north as far as Haverhill street.
An attempt was made to establish a water supply by conveying water from Haggett's Pond, Andover, but it developed that the scheme was impracticable. Subsequently the Bay State Mills and the Essex Company built a reservoir on Prospect Hill, particularly for fire pro- tection for the mills, and kept it filled by pumping from the canal. A few houses were piped with the water and it was used to some extent for domestic purposes. Most of the inhabitants, however, clung to the wells, the original source of supply, until the establishment of the city water works.
About this time, June 8, 1848, the first police court was held in a building on the northerly side of Common street near Broadway; in the rear was the lock-up. Judge William Stevens of North Andover was the presiding justice. After the Town Hall was built, police court for a time was held in what is now the council chamber, the judge's office being in the little coat room at the westerly end, now occupied by the assistant city auditor. The cells for the prisoners were in the basement. Before the Civil war, disturbances becoming lively on the "plains", the city for a time maintained a lock-up on Elm street near Lawrence street. These were the police court facilities until the build- ing was erected which occupied the site of the present station at the corner of Common and Lawrence streets. The first Superior court was located in the auditorium of the Town Hall, railings and fixtures being removed on town meeting days.
Early in 1848, the importance of securing and laying out a place for the repose of the dead began to receive serious attention. The original lot designated for this purpose embraced but about three acres. Subsequently this sacred enclosure was enlarged and it became known as Bellevue Cemetery. The Catholics early consecrated the ground on the summit of Currant Hill. Later Father O'Donnell secured the tract for the second cemetery on the west of the old ferry road, and his successors obtained a still larger tract extending from the northern line of the second to the southern line of. the first Catholic burying- ground.
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAWRENCE
Direct railway communication was opened with Boston, Lowell and Salem, and Lawrence became an important railroad centre. The Boston & Maine railway, having changed its location from Andover to North Andover, constructed between April, 1845, and March, 1848, the five miles of road between those places by way of this city, together with bridges across the river and canal, and on February 28, 1848, ran their passenger cars across the bridge for the first time to the station on the north side of the river. On July 2, 1848, the Lowell railway was completed between Lawrence and Lowell. The Essex railway, from Lawrence to Salem, was opened on September 4, 1848. The Manchester and Lawrence railway was opened for travel in October, 1849. The railroad facilities followed the growth of the city, and constant improvements were made in the service. Eventually the need of a Horse Railroad was apparent, and in 1867 the first track was laid from the Woolen mill in Methuen to the Everett mills at the foot of Essex street.
In June, 1848, the first important step was taken in the movement for the navigation of the Merrimack above tidewater. On the 6th of that month the steamer Lawrence came up from Newburyport with a delegation from that place and adjoining towns, landing her pas- sengers about opposite the foot of Hampshire street. Since then sundry attempts have been made to navigate the river, but with little success.
In 1848 the town had a population of nearly 6,000. Of that num- ber 3,750 were of native birth; 2,139 were natives of Ireland; there were one German, one Italian, three Frenchmen, two Welshmen, nine natives of Scotland, 28 people of English birth and 16 negroes. Not so cosmopolitan as today, but it was largely representative of the dominating races at present.
It was in 1848 that the town rejected the offer of the common as a gift, but at a subsequent meeting wisely accepted. The Essex Com- pany had stipulated that the town must fence the tract, and spend $300 a year for 20 years to beautify it. It seems as though in that day, too, the cry of "influence of corporations" was effective. At any rate, it nearly caused the loss of this boon to the community. On October 7, 1868, the common became the property of the city, without restriction.
Town meetings continued turbulent until the town became a city, and adjourned meetings were frequent. During the summer of 1849 a sort of mania for town meetings pervaded the people. Generally speaking, the Whigs were in the ascendency, although now and then a Democratic selectman or other town officer was chosen. No public meeting ever assembled in this city equalled the last meeting of the electors of the town. During the melee General Oliver lost his coat tail.
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
The city charter was passed by the legislature, March 21, 1853, and was accepted by the people on the 29th of the same month. The first election under the charter was held on the 18th of April following, and the city government was duly organized on the 18th of May, the same year (for personnel of city or town governments see General Statistics). At the first city election there were about 1,000 names on the voting list, and from the vote cast it is apparent that nearly every one took an active interest in the proceedings.
There was not a rod of paved street in the city in 1853 and not forty rods of brick or of any permanent sidewalk. Concrete had not been used for walks at that time. The few walks that had been laid were of gravel and planks or boards. The entire south side of Essex street and a considerable portion of the north side was open, un- developed land. The City Hall stood in an open field, abutted by buildings only on a portion of the Essex street side. The City Hall, the Jail and the Oliver school house ( the last mentioned much smaller than the building recently razed to make room for the Central Grammar School) were the only public buildings constructed of per- manent materials. The Jail or House of Correction was built that year.
*Charles S. Storrow, the first mayor, was elected by the Whig party. He was succeeded in 1854 by Enoch Bartlett, a candidate of the Democratic party and a young lawyer of considerable promise. It was during his administration that the "Know-Nothing" uprising com- menced. That was a trying experience for Mayor Bartlett. Not long after his election he had suffered a loss of health, and the worry and excitement attendant upon the popular demonstrations, at times threatening the peace of the community, taxed his waning energy. Shortly after the end of his official term he went home to New Hamp- shire, his native state, to die.
In 1855 the "Know-Nothings" swept the city, electing Albert War- ren as mayor. Their cry was "Nothing but native Americans in public office". The Whig and Democratic parties had dwindled down to a very few on either side, who had little fear of the Pope of Rome making America his immediate headquarters. The sweep in Lawrence, however, was no more general than throughout the state. In 1856 the election was a repetition of the year before, Warren being re- elected. The Democratic party made no nomination, and John R. Rollins received the support of all voters not affiliated with the "Know- Nothings".
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