Lawrence, Mass. Engineering Department. City Streets

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The material in this collection came into the library from Lawrence City Hall. These street plans are bound in seven volumes measuring 66 x 53 cm. Each plan is hand drawn and lettered. They show the date they were accepted. Later additions are also dated. Some of the original drawings and additions are signed by the artist. There are occasional insertions. Scale and direction are illustrated. There is also a number in a small seals affixed to the lower right or left hand corner. This number refers to a file in the City Engineers office. Many loose pages that belong with this collection were found at a later time.

Preceding the Engineering Department of today (2010) the original designation was a Commissioner of Streets. The first annual report was published in 1854, the first full year that Lawrence was a city. The Commissioner of Streets was responsible for streets: paving, watering, and general upkeep. He was also responsible for sewerage and sidewalks.

Arthur D. Marble became the first City Engineer in 1879. He was subservient to the Commissioner of Streets and sewers. In 1912, when the city charter changed, so too did the hierarchy. Paul Hannigan became the Director of Engineering with these departments under his supervision: Streets, Sewers, sidewalks, paving, street watering, water works, bridges, and the city engineer.