Editing Lawrence, Massachusetts (section)

===Post-War 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 declined from over 80,000 residents in 1950 (and a high of 94,270 in 1920) to approximately 64,000 residents in 1980, the low point of Lawrence's population. Much of the population relocated to nearby [[Methuen, Massachusetts|Methuen]].

====Urban redevelopment and renewal====
[[Image:Lawrence Pan Dec 21 2021.jpg|thumb|Merrimack River at Lawrence]]
[[Image:2010 Lawrence Massachusetts aerial 4361131115.jpg|thumb|upright|Aerial view of Merrimack River and Lawrence, 2010]]

Like other northeastern cities suffering from the effects of post-[[World War II]] [[deindustrialization|industrial decline]], Lawrence has often made efforts at revitalization, some of them controversial. The Lawrence Redevelopment Authority and city officials utilized eminent domain for a perceived public benefit, via a top-down approach, to revitalize the city throughout the 1960s. Known first as urban redevelopment, and then urban renewal, Lawrence's local government's actions towards vulnerable immigrant and poor communities, contained an undercurrent of gentrification which lies beneath the goals to revitalize Lawrence. There was a clash of differing ideals and perceptions of blight, growth, and what constituted a desirable community. Ultimately the discussion left out those members of the community who would be directly impacted by urban redevelopment.<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Pernice|first=Nicolas M.|date=2011|title=Urban Redevelopment of Lawrence, MA. Retrospective Case Study of the Plains Neighborhood|degree=MSc|access-date=June 3, 2024|publisher=University of Massachusetts Lowell|url=https://lawrencehistory.org/sites/LHIST-D10-PR1/files/uploads/Urban%20Redevelopment%20of%20Lawrence%2C%20MA.%20Retrospective%20Case%20Study%20of%20the%20Plains%20Neighborhood%20by%20Nick%20Pernice.pdf}}</ref>

Under the guise of [[urban renewal]], large tracts of downtown Lawrence were razed in the 1970s, and replaced with parking lots and a three-story parking garage connected to a new Intown Mall intended to compete with newly constructed suburban malls. The historic Theater Row along Broadway was also razed, destroying ornate movie palaces of the 1920s and 1930s that entertained mill workers through the [[Great Depression]] and the Second World War. The city's main post office, an ornate Federalist-style building at the corner of Broadway and Essex Street, was razed. Most of the structures were replaced with one-story, steel-frame structures with large parking lots, housing such establishments as fast food restaurants and chain drug stores, fundamentally changing the character of the center of Lawrence.{{Citation needed|reason=Original ref dead and removed|date=November 2009}}

Lawrence also attempted to increase its employment base by attracting industries unwanted in other communities, such as waste treatment facilities and incinerators.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} From 1980 until 1998, private corporations operated two trash incinerators in Lawrence.  Activist residents successfully blocked the approval of a waste treatment center on the banks of the Merrimack River near the current site of Salvatore's Pizza on Merrimack Street.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}

Recently the focus of Lawrence's urban renewal has shifted to preservation rather than sprawl.

====Events of the 1980s and 1990s====

Immigrants from the [[Dominican Republic]] and migrants from [[Puerto Rico]] began arriving in Lawrence in significant numbers in the late 1960s, attracted by cheap housing and a history of tolerance toward immigrants. In 1984, tensions between remaining working-class whites and increasing numbers of Hispanic youth flared into a riot, centered at the intersection of Haverhill Street and Oxford Street, where several buildings were destroyed by [[Molotov cocktail]]s and over 300 people were arrested.<ref>{{Cite news| title = Crackdown by police cools Lawrence riots| newspaper = [[Spokane Chronicle]]| location = Spokane, Washington| page = 4| date = August 11, 1984| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M8USAAAAIBAJ&pg=5550,2277710&dq=lawrence+riots+1984&hl=en| access-date = 4 November 2009}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title = Two Nights of Rioting Bring a Curfew to Lawrence Mass.| newspaper = [[The New York Times]]| page = 4| date = August 10, 1984| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/11/us/two-nights-of-rioting-bring-a-curfew-to-lawrence-mass.html| access-date = 23 May 2014 }}</ref>

Lawrence saw further setbacks during the recession of the early 1990s as a wave of arson plagued the city. Over 200 buildings were set alight in eighteen months in 1991–1992, many of them abandoned residences and industrial sites.<ref>{{Cite news| last = McGhee| first = Neil| title = Arson epidemic continues in Massachusetts town| newspaper = National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management| publisher = The National Underwriter Company| date = August 24, 1992| url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-12533408.html| access-date = 4 November 2009}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The [[Malden Mills]] factory burned down on December 11, 1995. CEO Aaron Feuerstein decided to continue paying the salaries of all the now unemployed workers while the factory was being rebuilt.<ref>60 Minutes: The Mensch Of Malden Mills</ref>

====Recent trends====

A sharp reduction in violent crime starting in 2004<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2011/10/17/41306/Lawrence-Massachusetts-mayor-faces-the-wrath-of-residents |title=Lawrence, Massachusetts mayor faces the wrath of residents - DominicanToday.com |access-date=2014-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201115752/http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2011/10/17/41306/Lawrence-Massachusetts-mayor-faces-the-wrath-of-residents |archive-date=2015-02-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and massive private investment in former mill buildings along the Merrimack River, including the remaining section of the historic [[Wood Worsted Mill]]—to be converted into commercial, residential and education uses – have lent encouragement to boosters of the city.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} One of the final remaining mills in the city is [[Malden Mills]]. Lawrence's downtown has seen a resurgence of business activity as Hispanic-owned businesses have opened along Essex Street, the historic shopping street of Lawrence that remained largely shuttered since the 1970s.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} In June 2007, the city approved the sale of the Intown Mall, largely abandoned since the early 1990s recession, to [[Northern Essex Community College]] for the development of a medical sciences center, the construction of which commenced in 2012 when the InTown Mall was finally removed.<ref>InTown Mall demolition begins today, making way for college health technologies building, by Keith Eddings, Eagle-Tribune, 3 January 2012</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://departments.necc.mass.edu/newsroom/2012/01/04/intown-mall-comes-tumbling-down/| title=InTown Mall Comes Tumbling Down| work=Newsroom – Northern Essex Community College| date=2012-01-04}}</ref> A large multi-structure fire in January 2008 destroyed many wooden structures just south of downtown.<ref>{{Cite news | last1 = Allen| first1 = Scott | last2 = Ryan| first2=Andrew | title = 150 left homeless from Lawrence fire| newspaper = [[The Boston Globe]] | location = Boston, Massachusetts| date = January 21, 2008| url = http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/01/fire_engulfs_do.html| access-date = 4 November 2009}}</ref> A poor financial situation that has worsened with the recent global recession and has led to multiple municipal layoffs had Lawrence contemplating [[receivership]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1412996113/Lawrence-fiscal-crisis-prompts-talk-of-bankruptcy-receivership |last= Kirk| first= Bill |title=Lawrence fiscal crisis prompts talk of bankruptcy, receivership| location=  North Andover, MA  |work= [[The Eagle-Tribune]] |date= 14 February 2010| access-date=August 10, 2010}}</ref> On February 9, 2019, in recognition of the role the town has played in the labor movement, Senator [[Elizabeth Warren]] officially announced her candidacy for President of the United States in Lawrence.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/09/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-2020.html|title=Elizabeth Warren Formally Announces 2020 Presidential Bid in Lawrence, Mass.|last=Taylor|first=Kate|date=2019-02-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-02-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==== Gas explosion ====
{{Main|Massachusetts gas explosions}}
On September 13, 2018, a series of gas explosions and fires broke out in as many as 40 homes in Lawrence, [[Andover, Massachusetts|Andover]], and [[North Andover, Massachusetts|North Andover]]. The disaster killed one resident and caused over 30,000 customers to evacuate their homes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/09/13/multiple-gas-explosions-set-more-than-homes-ablaze-across-three-communities-north-boston/|title='How did this happen?': Gas blasts set homes ablaze, triggering chaos in Massachusetts|newspaper=Washington Post|date=September 13, 2018}}</ref> A year after this first incident on September 27, 2019, there was another gas leak causing people to evacuate their homes again.