Lawrence is a small town of less than 7 square miles. Within its walls many historical events have occurred that moved the city, the state, the nation and even the world.
After the construction of the Great Stone Dam to harness the Merrimack River’s water power, on August 1, 1845, The Essex Company began selling the water power to the several mills sprouting alongside the river. The newly formed city called Lawrence became the jewel of the State. Consequently, thousands of immigrants flooded into the United States in the mid to late 19th century, from almost every nation in Europe to a point that it has had more immigrants from a greater variety of countries in the world per capita, than any other city of its size on Earth.
Those immigrants brought their culture and traditions that make this city so rich and fortunately we still celebrate their festivals. The Feast of the Three Saints going into its 91st year strong, and the 40-year-old St. Anthony’s Mahrajan Festival, both around the Labor Day, coincidently, a product of The Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 also known as the Lawrence textile strike, one of the more important labor actions in American history.
Over 60 years ago, those powerful machines went silent leaving Lawrence a struggling city after thousands of inhabitants moved out, buildings remained abandoned until new investors came in with new ideas, converting those historic buildings into housing, classrooms, offices, etc. that are being filled with new immigrants, this time from Central and South America and the Caribbean.
These new Americans brought their culture and traditions creating their own festivals with Hispanic Week being the oldest now 35 years old. We just celebrated the 8th International Book Fair, a three day festival with authors residing in different parts of the world converging in Lawrence to share their experiences.
It is our responsibility to do everything in our power to continue supporting the traditions that we found when we arrived and also supporting the new ones. Remember, we are writing Lawrence history. Let’s do our part and make it a good one!
