According to history, Lawrence was a great wool-processing center until that industry declined in the 1950s. The decline left Lawrence a struggling city. The population of Lawrence reached a high of 94,270 in 1920, declining to over 80,000 residents in 1950 and to approximately 64,000 residents in 1980, the low point of Lawrence’s population
During the years 1845-1920, the immigrant communities in Lawrence were composed of Germans, Irish, Italians, French, Canadians, Jews, Lebanese, Poles, Lithuanians, and English, who, gradually, began to leave the city.
In the late 1960s, attracted by cheap housing and a history of tolerance towards immigrants, immigrants from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries as well as migrants from Puerto Rico began to reach Lawrence in significant numbers.
As a result of all this, the immigrant newcomers found a city where there were no jobs, abandoned houses, many destroyed by fire, commercial premises that supplied the needs of former customers, when they lost them, closed their doors.
Little by little, the community of new immigrants took control of small businesses; they started opening bodegas, where they sold products that new residents could only find there and bought the houses that their former residents abandoned.
They opened beauty parlors, barbershops, money exchange and foreign exchange offices, bakeries, sweetshops, taxi companies, insurance and real estate agencies, construction companies, plumbing and electricity, restaurants and many other service companies oriented to the community they serve have been established and we can assure, without fear of being mistaken, that most of these businesses are in the hands of Dominicans.
For the reasons given, we applaud the creation of the Dominicanísimo Awards, idea of Milagros Dominguez and Santiago Matias. It was time for someone to recognize the work that new immigrants have been doing all these years, especially Dominicans.
It is difficult to enter an establishment in Lawrence, whatever that may be, including the General Hospital and not find a descendant of a Dominican who tends to your needs. If you attend a session of the City Council, of the nine councilors, seven are Dominicans. Of the three State Representatives, two are Dominicans. They have come to fill the spaces that the first residents left for economic reasons.
As in every family, there are always black sheeps. It is public knowledge that among good Dominicans, there are also bad ones who have decided to live outside the law, damaging with their behavior the performance of the good ones.
Let’s trust in the Dominican Pride, as Ms. Julia Silverio said in her acceptance speech of the Great Dominicanisima Award 2019, “for wherever there is a Dominican, that his pride is reflected in his work, in his behavior and in everything he does.”
