Lawrence

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Lawrence 1 City (1990 pop. 26,763), Marion co., central Ind., a residential suburb of Indianapolis, on the West Fork of the White River. It has light manufacturing.

2 City (1990 pop. 65,608), seat of Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River; inc. 1858. Although agricultural trade is economically important, the city's major employer is the Univ. of Kansas. There is also commercial printing and the manufacture of medical, construction, and communications equipment; feeds; fertilizers; chemicals; textiles; asphalt; and paper products. Lawrence was founded in 1854 by the New England Emigrant Aid Company . The political center of the free-staters, it was actually, though not legally, capital for a short time after 1857. Lawrence was an important stop on the Underground Railroad and the base for many Abolitionist organizations. In 1856 a proslavery raid on the town instigated the retaliatory Pottawatomie killings by John Brown . In 1863 the town was again sacked and burned by William Quantrill . The Plymouth Congregational Church there was the first church built (1854) by settlers in Kansas. Lawrence is also the seat of the Haskell Indian Nations Univ. (1884).

3 City (1990 pop. 70,207), a seat of Essex co., NE Mass., on the Merrimack River; settled 1655, set off from Andover and Methuen 1847, inc. as a city 1853. It is a port of entry. Textiles, clothing, electrical equipment, athletic shoes, and rubber and paper products are manufactured. High-technology industries in the area also contribute to Lawrence's economy. Boston capitalists laid out an industrial town there in 1845 and built a granite dam on the Merrimack River. They also built mills and workers' dwellings, which were soon crowded with laborers, mainly from Europe, and Lawrence became one of the world's greatest centers for woolen textiles. Several disastrous events have occurred there—the collapse and burning of the Pemberton Mill in 1860, when over 500 trapped workers were killed or injured; the tornado of 1890; and the protracted labor strike by the Industrial Workers of the World in 1912. Leonard Bernstein was born there.

Lawrence, New Zealand, USA 1. New Zealand (South Island): originally known by its Maori name of Tuapeka when founded in 1861, it was renamed after Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence (1806–57), one of the prominent men of British India, and the British commissioner in Lucknow who was killed at the start of the six‐month siege of the residency during the Indian Mutiny in 1857; its defence owed much to his preparations and determination to resist.2. USA (Kansas): founded in 1854 and named after Amos A. Lawrence, a textile manufacturer.3. USA (Massachusetts): founded in 1845 and named after Abbott Lawrence, a member of a group of Boston financiers keen to promote industry here.

Lawrence ♂ Anglicized spelling of Laurence. This is the usual spelling of the surname, and is now becoming increasingly common as a given name, especially in North America.

Pet forms: Larry, Lawrie.

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