Lawrence Machine Shop, Building No. 16A, 70 General Street, Lawrence

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MASS,5-LAWR,1N-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Building 16A is one of approximately 100 buildings in the 60 acre, mile- long complex of textile mills and related buildings in the North Canal Historic District. It was built in and is part of the more recent improvements to the Lawrence Machine Shop yard. The North Canal is part of the original town plan and is the focus of the central city's major streets. LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 2) PART I - HISTORY OF THE LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A Building 16A is located in the North Canal Historic District. It was constructed in It is one of approximately 100 buildings in this district of textile and other manufacturing mills, and related buildings. It is one of the last structures built in the former Lawrence Machine Shop yard.

These buildings were the last of the mills to be constructed along the North Canal. In the Essex Company established Lawrence and made the North Canal its industrial focus. The city plans were laid out by the Essex Company's engineer, Charles S. Storrow. Most major improvements to the city were made between and The Bolta Company built this building as part of its plastics and rubber manufacturing plant just prior to selling it to the General Tire & Rubber Company. It was used for solvent recovery, storage and mixing ink.

Though smaller in size compared to many of the other mill buildings, it was nonetheless part of the vinyl manufacturing plant that ran three full shifts per working day and employed hundreds of people until its closure in December General Tire changed its name to GenCorp Inc. in The Bread & Roses Labor Strike of took place near this site. Confrontations between strikers and militia occurred, a person was killed, and many union leaders were arrested and tried. The Bread & Roses strike forever changed the labor practices for women and children. LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 3) PART II-DESCRIPTION OF THE LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A Building 16A is a one story structure built around and is about square feet.

The roof is wood planks on timber beams that are supported on the west wall of Building 16, the exterior CMU walls of Building 16A, and by timber columns at interior locations. The floor is a concrete slab on grade. A small shed is located to the east of Building 16. It has a plywood roof supported on wood joists and CMU bearing walls. The floor is a concrete slab. This building is located at the northeast end of the former Lawrence Machine Shop yard and North Canal Historic District. It sits just South of the Spicket River and General Street. LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 4) PART III- SOURCES OF INFORMATION Interviews Devaney, Robert J. Gauvin, Mark R. and Kfoury, Kasper J. November 1995-March1996 GenCorp Inc. - Lawrence. GenCorp Inc.

- Lawrence Location employees and retired employee. Bibliography Gwardyak, Chester T. and Keating, John W. Main Buildings Demolition Structural Report. Cambridge: Camp Dresser & McKee Inc., Grasso, Darren R., Kfoury, Robert T. and Stupich, Martin. Graphic Sketch Plans. Lawrence and Boston, Poirier, Clarisse A. Massachusetts Historical Commission - Form No. 809 (Form B - Building). Lawrence: Planning & Community Development Department, Zellie, Carole. National Register ofHistoric Places Inventory - Nomination Form. Cambridge: Landscape Research, Repositories Searched 1. City of Lawrence Planning & Community Development Dept. and Historical Commission 225 Essex Street Lawrence, MA Tel: 2. Essex Company 200 Bulfinch Drive Andover, MA Tel: 3. GenCorp Inc.

- Lawrence Location 70 General Street Lawrence, MA Tel: LAWREN CE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 5) 4. Immigrant City Archives 6 Essex Street Lawrence, MA Tel: 5. Museum of American Textile History 800 Massachusetts Avenue North Andover, MA Tel: 6. Society For Preservation Of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) 141 Cambridge Street Boston, MA Tel: The above repositories were thoroughly searched and are all appropriate sources of information for this project. Very few historic photographs (two or three) of this site exist, and those that do are copyrighted. They can be viewed at the Immigrant City Archives and The Society For Preservation Of New England Antiquities which are both open to the public.

These photographs do not show any of GenCorp's buildings separately, and the two or three group photos show a large area of buildings partially consisting of GenCorp buildings. The best historic photo, which is owned by GenCorp Inc., has previously been submitted to the National Park Service and is now in the Library of Congress and Massachusetts State Archives (Reference: HABS No. MA-988-18 photograph). The Museum of American Textile History has historic site plans of the general area, but all are copyrighted, though they can be seen at the museum which is open to the public. There were no original drawings of the site available. The historical and descriptive information was all found in the records of GenCorp Inc.

- Lawrence Location and the City of Lawrence Planning & Community Development Department and Historical Commission (please see Bibliography). Lawrence Community Development and Historical Commission information included information that could also be found in the state archives with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 6) PART IV -

Project Information

This project is a continuation of an ongoing remediation project with this particular segment known as the GenCorp Inc. Phase II Demolition/Main Buildings Project (Phase II). It is part of a phased comprehensive remediation project addressing environmental, health and safety concerns with the objective to return the property to productive use in the City of Lawrence. Phase II demolition, scheduled to begin in June is primarily needed to remove contaminated buildings, to provide access to subsurface areas for investigation and potential remediation, and to continue the remediation process in order to achieve compliance with government environmental, health and safety standards.

This program is being conducted under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection as the lead agency. Since there are many environmental statutes applicable to this project, the Environmental Protection Agency - Region I, New England (EPA) is the lead federal agency involved. Both agencies concur with GenCorp on the project. Also, EPA, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Massachusetts Historical Commission and GenCorp have all agreed to and signed a Memorandum of Agreement regarding this project. This record was prepared February 23, Prepared by: Robert T. Kfoury, Esq. Title: Consultant Affiliation: GenCorp Inc. Date: May 14, LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 7) BUILDING 16A SITE PLAN -1 ,. /~A \.

cYEl( 1'r --- /4/u &>. /t/lu 4/r .. Mtv.RE/./CE AkH-1/./C: Sl'lol'" 18 3A. t :, ' exT6'1/S1, "' ~11"",t-//U Cc. P~e~ ,llpl).S.e z () ; 1 v. 'I MAf l? ~ortv 'SCALt. -vAAff Z 'IG LAWRENCE MACHINE SHOP, BUILDING 16A HABS No. MA-988-N (Page 8) I =Doorway =Column