Editing Lawrence, Massachusetts (section)

====Immigrant communities, 1845–1920====
Lawrence became home to large groups of immigrants from Europe, beginning with the Irish in 1845, Germans after the social upheaval in Germany in 1848, Swedes fleeing an overcrowded Sweden, and French Canadians seeking to escape hard northern farm life from the 1850s onward. A second wave began arriving after 1900, as part of the great mass of Italian and Eastern European immigrants, including Jews from Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and neighboring regions. Immigration to the United States was severely curtailed in the 1920s with the [[Immigration Act of 1924]] when foreign-born immigration to Lawrence virtually ceased for over 40 years.<ref name="Cole"/>

In 1890, the foreign-born population of 28,577 was divided as follows, with the significant remainder of the population being children of foreign-born residents: 7,058 Irish; 6,999 French Canadians; 5,131 English; 2,465 German; 1,683 English Canadian.{{sfn|Britannica|1910}} In 1920, toward the end of the first wave of immigration, most ethnic groups had numerous social clubs in the city.  The Portuguese had 2; the English had 2; the Jews had 3; the Armenians, 5; the Lebanese and Syrians, 6; the Irish, 8; the Polish, 9; the French Canadians and Belgian-French, 14; the Lithuanians, 18; the Italians, 32; and the Germans, 47.<ref name="Skulski"/>  However, the center of social life, even more than clubs or fraternal organizations, was churches.  Lawrence is dotted with churches, many now closed, torn down, or converted into other uses. These churches signify, more than any other artifacts, the immigrant communities that once lived within walking distance of each church.<ref name="Skulski">{{cite book |last1=Skulski |first1=Ken |last2=Dengler |first2=Eartha |last3=Khalife |first3=Katherine |title=Lawrence, Massachusetts |publisher=Arcadia Pub |location=[[Dover, NH]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-7524-0229-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lawrencemassachu00deng }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://lucieslegacy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/history-of-lawrence-ma-immigrant.html| title=Lucie's Legacy: History of Lawrence, MA - Immigrant Communities| work=lucieslegacy.blogspot.co.uk| date=2013-01-18}}</ref>

=====Germans=====
The first sizable German community arrived following the revolutions of 1848.<ref name="Cole"/> However, a larger German community was formed after 1871, when industrial workers from [[Saxony]] were displaced by economic competition from new industrial areas like the [[Ruhr]].<ref name="McCaffery">McCaffery, Robert Paul, "Islands of Deutschtum: German-Americans in Manchester, New Hampshire and Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1870–1942". ''New German–American Studies, Vol 11''. Peter Lang, 1996.</ref> The German community was characterized by numerous school clubs, shooting clubs, national and regional clubs, as well as men's choirs and mutual aid societies,<ref name="McCaffery"/> many of which were clustered around the Turn Verein, a major social club on Park Street.<ref name="Skulski"/>  Germans had a considerable number of churches in Lawrence, including Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish (German Catholic) formed in 1887 on Lawrence Street,<ref name="ReferenceA">Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts, Tercentenary Edition, Benj. F. Arrington, Editor-in-chief, Volume II 1922 Lewis Historical Publishing Company New York</ref> as well as several Protestant churches including The German Methodist Episcopal Church, Vine Street, organized in 1878; and the German Presbyterian, East Haverhill Street, organized 1872 from which the Methodist church split in 1878.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

=====Italians=====
Some Italian immigrants celebrated Mass in the basement chapel of the largely Irish St. Laurence O'Toole Parish Church, at the intersection of Essex Street and Union Street. When St. Laurence O'Toole Parish had collected sufficient funds to build a new church in 1905 at the nearby intersection of East Haverhill Street and Newbery Street, the Italian population formed Holy Rosary Parish.<ref name="Skulski"/> Immigrants from [[Lentini]] (a ''comune'' in the Sicilian [[the province of Syracuse]]) and from the Sicilian province of [[Catania]] maintained a particular devotion to three Catholic martyrs, [[Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus|Saint Alfio, Saint Filadelfo and Saint Cirino]], and in 1923 began celebrating a procession on their feast day.<ref>[http://www.centamore.it/TreSanti/WithTrueFaith_Testo.asp Festa of Saints Alfio, Filadelfo, and Cirino<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Although most of the participants live in neighboring towns, the Feast of Three Saints festival continues in Lawrence today.  Many of the Italians who lived in the Newbury Street area had immigrated from [[Trecastagni]], [[Viagrande]], [[Acireale]], and [[Nicolosi]], Italy.

=====French Canadians=====
French Canadians were the second major immigrant group to settle in Lawrence. In 1872, they erected their first church, St. Anne's, at the corner of Haverhill and Franklin streets. Within decades, St. Anne's established a "missionary church", Sacred Heart on South Broadway, to serve the burgeoning [[French-speaking Quebecer|Québécois]] community in South Lawrence. Later it would also establish the "missionary" parishes in Methuen: Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Theresa's (Notre-Dame du Mont Carmel et St-Thérèse). The French-Canadians arrived from various farming areas of Quebec where the old parishes were overpopulated: some people moved up north ([[Abitibi-Temiscamingue|Abitibi]] and [[Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean]]), while others moved to industrial towns to find work ([[Montreal]], Quebec; but also in the United States). Others who integrated themselves into these French-Canadian communities were actually [[Acadians]] who had left the Canadian Maritimes of [[New Brunswick]] and [[Nova Scotia]] also in search of work.

=====Lebanese ("Syrians")=====
Lawrence residents frequently referred to their Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern community as "[[Syrian]]". Most so-called Syrians in Lawrence were from present-day [[Lebanon]] and were largely [[Maronite Christian]].<ref name="Skulski"/> Lebanese and Syrians mostly settled in the neighborhoods of North Lawrence such as Tower Hill along with Prospect Hill. [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] immigrants organized [[Anthony the Great|St. Anthony]]'s [[Maronite Church]] in 1903 on the corner of Lebanon Street and Lawrence Street,<ref>[http://www.stanthonylawrence.org/history1.htm St. Anthony's Maronite Church website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705144205/http://www.stanthonylawrence.org/history1.htm |date=2008-07-05 }}</ref> and St. Joseph's Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, as well as [[St. George]]'s [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch|Antiochian Orthodox Church]].<ref name="Skulski"/>

=====Jews=====

Jewish merchants became increasingly numerous in Lawrence and specialized in dry goods and retail shops. The fanciest men's clothing store in Lawrence, Kap's, established in 1902 and closed in the early 1990s, was founded by Elias Kapelson, born in [[Lithuania]]. Jacob Sandler arrived in Lawrence in June 1891 (1906, his two brothers (Isaac and Sundel arrived), and 3 other brothers also arrived in the early 1900s.  Jacob opened a shoe business at 434 Broadway and earned enough income to purchase the property at 256–258 Essex St starting Sandler's Department Store, it later became Sandler's Luggage which continued under his son, Simon Sandler, and later his grandson, Robert Sandler until 1978. In the 1880s, the first Jewish arrivals established a community around Common, Valley, Concord, and Lowell streets. As of 1922, there were at least two noteworthy congregations, both on Concord Street: Congregation of Sons of Israel (Jewish), organized October 3, 1894. Synagogue on Concord Street built in 1913; and Congregation of Anshea Sfard (Jewish), organized on April 6, 1900. The synagogue on Concord Street was built in the autumn of 1907.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>  In the 1920s, the Jews of Lawrence began congregating further up Tower Hill, where they erected two [[synagogue]]s on Lowell Street above Milton Street, as well as a Jewish Community Center on nearby Haverhill Street. All three institutions had closed their doors by 1990 as the remaining elderly members of the community died out or moved away.<ref name="Skulski"/>

=====Polish=====
The Polish community of Lawrence was estimated to be only 600–800 persons in 1900. However, by 1905, the community had expanded sufficiently to fund the construction of the Holy Trinity Church at the corner of Avon and Trinity streets.<ref name="Skulski"/> Their numbers grew to 2,100 Poles in 1910. Like many of their immigrant brethren from other nations, most of the Poles were employed in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.polishroots.org/paha/polish_farmers_workers.htm |title=PolishRoots - PAHA Articles |access-date=2008-04-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316165002/http://www.polishroots.org/paha/polish_farmers_workers.htm |archive-date=2008-03-16 }}</ref>

=====Lithuanians=====
Lawrence had a sizable enough [[Lithuanians|Lithuanian]] community to warrant the formation of both Lithuanian Catholic and [[Lithuanian National Catholic Church|Lithuanian National Catholic]] churches. St. Francis (Lithuanian Catholic Church) on Bradford Street was formed in 1903 by Rev. James T. O'Reilly of St. Mary's, in a building previously occupied by St. John's Episcopal Church.<ref>Municipal History of Essex County in Massachusetts, Tercentenary Edition, Benj. F. Arrington, Editor-in-chief, Volume II 1922 Lewis Historical Publishing Company New York.</ref>  The church closed in 2002, merging with Holy Trinity (Polish) and SS. Peter and Paul (Portuguese). Sacred Heart Lithuanian National Catholic Church was established in 1917 and located on Garden Street until its closure and sale in 2001.

=====English=====
A sizable English community, composed mainly of unskilled laborers who arrived after 1880, sought work in the textile mills where they were given choice jobs by the Yankee overseers on account of their shared linguistic heritage and close cultural links.

=====Yankee farmers=====
[[File:Lawrence Street Congregational Church - Lawrence, MA - DSC03581.JPG|thumb|Lawrence Street Congregational Church]]

Not all immigrants to Lawrence were foreign-born or their children. Yankee farmers, unable to compete against the cheaper farmlands of the [[Midwest]] that had been linked to the East Coast by rail, settled in corners of Lawrence. [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]] were the second Protestant denomination to begin worship in Lawrence after the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalians]], with the formation of the [[Lawrence Street Congregational Church]] in 1847,<ref name=Quartercentennial>''Quarter-centennial history of Lawrence, Massachusetts: With portraits and biographical sketches of ex-mayors, the board of may...'' [database on-line]. [[Provo, UT]]: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Wadsworth, H. A. ''Quarter-centennial history of Lawrence, Massachusetts: With portraits and biographical sketches of ex-mayors, the board of mayor and aldermen for the present year, other leading officials, and a representation of business and professional men''. Lawrence, Mass.: H. Reed, Lawrence Eagle Steam Job Print. Office, 1878</ref>{{rp|66}} and the first in South Lawrence, with the erection in 1852 of the first South Congregational Church on South Broadway, near the corner of Andover Street.<ref name="Skulski"/>  Baptist churches included The First Baptist Church, one of the first churches in Lawrence, which was organized in the spring of 1947 and was known as Amesbury Street Baptist Church.  Second Baptist was organized on September 6, 1860; its building was dedicated in 1874.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>