Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Lawrence, Massachusetts

38 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Lawrence City. It lies in ZIP code area 01840. It stands on Bloody Brook. The Survey maps it on the Lawrence quadrangle. 89,143 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 36 feet above sea level.

Lawrence within Essex County

Population over time

3 figures

Lawrence grew from 76,377 to 89,143 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	76,377
2014	78,167	+1,790 (+2%)
2020	89,143	+10,976 (+14%)

Then and now

1886 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Lawrence, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet of Lawrence, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

38 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Photographs

6 photographs, 1941

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

General view of mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Men going to work in a textile mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Mr. La Rosa, Italian vegetable farmer and weaver at Plymouth Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Has about eleven-acre farm in Methuen, Massachusetts. In the summer his son works the land, also works at the Plymouth Mill
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Giant textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

A vacant mill on a street in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Delano, Jack, 1941. Library of Congress

Lawrence Machine Shop, Building No. 16A, 70 General Street, Lawrence, Essex County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

83 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 83 fires within 5 miles of Lawrence between 2002 and 2020, burning about 24 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	20
Smoking	19
Debris and open burning	9
Misuse of fire by a minor	8
Recreation and ceremony	7
Equipment and vehicle use	6
Arson/incendiarism	5
Railroad operations and maintenance	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	4
Natural	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
24 September 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 September 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 September 2020	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
14 September 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NORTH ANDOVER
8 August 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	LAWERANCE
8 August 2016	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	LAWERANCE
8 August 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	LAWERANCE
5 August 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	METHUEN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,242 shown

Museums hold 1,242 specimens collected within 10 miles of Lawrence between 1816 and 1975: 694 Plantae, 409 Animalia, 121 Fungi, 5 Protozoa, 5 Bacteria, 4 Unrecorded, 4 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Brown, A S Gaunt, A. C. Mathieson and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Lupinus L.	1816	Boott, F.M.B.	Mystic Pond, 6 miles from Boston.
Viola labradorica Schrank	1816	not recorded	Andover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
Diphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr	1822	ALCOTT
Arcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 1875	1826	F. A. Gilbert
Eleocharis robbinsii Oakes	1829	B. D. Greene
Carex debilis var. rudgei L.H.Bailey	1853	Collector unknown
Carex rostrata Stokes	1853	W. Boott
Cyathus striatus Willd.	1853	not recorded	Andover, Mass. [Massachusetts]
Dichelyma capillaceum (Dicks.) Myrin	1853	T. P. James
Isopterygiopsis pulchella (Hedw.) Z.Iwats.	1853	T. P. James
Leskea polycarpa Hedw.	1853	T. P. James
Vulpia octoflora var. glauca (Nutt.) Fernald	1858	J. Blake

All 1,242 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Lawrence: 4 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 plant. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper, Perlite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Dracut Ni Mine/Nickel Mine Hill	Nickel, Gold, Silver, Copper	Past Producer
Wittemore Perlite Plant	Perlite	Plant
Rocco Zambino and Sons, Inc. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Sand & Gravel Operation	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Torromeo Trucking Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Torromeo Trucking Co., Inc. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms nearby

26 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Lawrence in 26 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 7 flash flood, 7 thunderstorm wind, 7 flood, 3 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 1998	Flash Flood	Lawrence	$570,000	Shawsheen River
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	South Lawrence	$50,000	In Lawrence, trees were downed on Winthrop Avenue, Essex Street, Everett Street, and Methuen Street. A tree fell onto a house on Furber Street and another on Melvin Street. In North Andover, a large tree was downed on Boston Road near Route 114 and on Main Street. Damage was a little more extensive in Andover, where many trees were downed on the south side of town including on Vine Street. Trees and wires were downed on Bridle Path Road.
July 2009	Lightning	South Lawrence	$50,000	Lightning struck a house on Fossen Way setting it on fire.
September 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Lawrence	$30,000	Trees and wires on South Union, Kent, Baily, and Dorchester Streets were downed by thunderstorm winds. A tree on Dorchester Street was downed onto a car.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	South Lawrence	$25,000	Many large trees on North Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2018	Flood	Lawrence	$10,000	At 1:55 PM EST, two cars were trapped in flooding at the intersection of Market Street and Parker Street in Lawrence.
September 2017	Flood	South Lawrence	$10,000	At 455 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported Chickering Road at State Route 114 in South Lawrence was flooded. A car nearby on Halsey Street was trapped in flood waters. At 524 PM EST a car was disabled in street flooding at Cutler Avenue and Chickering Road. Grafton Street was flooded and impassable.
June 2023	Lightning	Lawrence	$5,000	In Lawrence at 511 PM EDT (411 PM EST), a house was struck by lightning, causing damage to the electrical system.
July 2018	Flash Flood	Lawrence	$5,000	At 2:48 PM EST, a car was trapped in flooding at the junction of Swan Street and Jackson Street in Methuen.
October 2011	Flood	South Lawrence	$5,000	Several streets were closed due to flooding. A car was stuck in floodwaters at the intersection of Andover Street and South Broadway near the Walgreens.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Lawrence	$3,000	In Methuen, Lowell Street was impassable due to flash flooding. Two cars were trapped there. Broadway near Granite Street was flooded and impassable. Also, Route 110 near Bates Street was flooded and impassable. Jackson Street was also flooded and impassable.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Lawrence	$1,500	In Methuen, multiple trees were down on Wintergreen Circle.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	South Lawrence	$800	In Lawrence, a tree and power lines were down on Leonard Avenue.
August 2025	Flash Flood	South Lawrence	-	There were cars stuck in significant street flooding near the Lawrence and Andover town line.
October 2022	Flood	South Lawrence	-	In Lawrence, police reported street flooding on Andover Street between Clifron and Amherst Streets. The road was flooded and impassable. Report relayed by amateur radio.
July 2020	Flash Flood	Lawrence	-	In Lawrence, Berkeley Street was flooded and impassable from Sheridan Street to Jackson Street to East Haverhill Street. In addition, Parker Street was closed at the Merrimack River bridge due to flooding.
November 2018	Flood	South Lawrence	-	In Lawrence, there were flooded streets at Water Street and Marble Avenue.
September 2018	Flash Flood	Lawrence	-	At 9:55 AM EST, Parker Street in Lawrence was closed from Market Street to Merrimack Street due to flooding at the railroad underpass.
September 2018	Flash Flood	South Lawrence	-	At 9:43 AM EST, the intersection of Andover Street at Clifton Street in Lawrence was flooded and impassable.
September 2017	Flood	Lawrence	-	At 1124 AM EST, an amateur radio operator reported a car trapped in flood waters behind Partham Elementary School in Lawrence. The Automated Surface Observation System platform at Lawrence Airport recorded a storm total rainfall of 2.62 inches.
September 2017	Flood	Lawrence	-	At 1045 AM EST, Parker Street in Lawrence was reported flooded and impassable between Merrimack and Market Streets. At 11 AM EST, the intersection of Salem Street and South Union Street was reported flooded and impassable. The Community Cooperative Rain Hail and Snow observer in Andover reported a storm total rainfall of 2.18 inches.
July 2014	Hail	Lawrence	-	Dime sized hail was reported in Lawrence.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Lawrence	-	Trees down onto homes.
July 2009	Hail	South Lawrence	-	no account filed
August 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Lawrence	-	no account filed
July 2001	Hail	Lawrence	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Essex County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
South Lawrence	0.9 miles	38
Mount Vernon Park	1.4 miles	38
North Andover	1.6 miles	38
Methuen	2.0 miles	38
Shawsheen Heights	2.2 miles	38
Marston Corners	2.4 miles	38
Shawsheen Village	2.6 miles	38
Stevens Crossing	3.0 miles	40

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Lawrence	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q49163	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612332. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.