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James V. Roy | all galleries >> Merrimack Valley Theaters >> Lawrence Theaters >> Theater Row > NW corner of Essex and Broadway (1 block south of Theater Row)
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c.1905

NW corner of Essex and Broadway (1 block south of Theater Row)

Lawrence, MA view map

The old Boston and Maine Train Station on the M&L line and the Lawrence Post Office.

Manchester and Lawrence Branch
The Manchester and Lawrence Branch (known as the M&L) ran from Lawrence, Massachusetts to Manchester New Hampshire. The line opened in 1849 as an independent railroad. It was soon leased by the Concord Railroad.
ln 1879 a 'grand depot" was built at the corner of Lawrence and Essex Streets. At various times it was called "Lawrence" or "North Lawrence" or "Lawrence - Essex Street'.
In 1887 The M&L came under the control of the Boston and Maine Railroad.
In the nineteenth century most of the railroads that eventually combined into the Boston and Maine system were independent and there were many hitter rivalries among them. The Concord Railroad could get a more favorable rate division from the Boston and Lowell RR by threatening to divert; Boston bound freight to the
Boston and Maine at Lawrence over the MM., Once the major New Hampshire Railroads merged into the Boston and Maine, the rate wars between the various New Hampshire railroads ceased and the M&L became a lightly used branch line.

This station was closed in 1931 when a new station was built on the South side of the Merrimack River at the junction of the Western Route Main Line of the Portland Division with the Manchester and Lawrence Branch. That station is now a commercial building that no longer serves trains.
(text courtesy Bill McCaffrey)


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