The Essex Company was incorporated on March 20, 1845 by the Massachusetts General Court. It was formed at about the same time as the Merrimack Water Power Association with the goal of devising a plan for development of water power at the Bodwell Falls. The Essex Company was purchased for $30,000 from Samuel Lawrence and Daniel Saunders of the Merrimack Water Power association with its water rights and land. In 1844, Abbott Lawrence, the president of the Essex Company, hired Charles Storrow to help in the development. Storrow also became treasurer of the company.

Charles Storrow was a civil engineer who planned the city carefully, laying out streets and lots so as to preserve areas for strolling and providing a common area. Each land deed included regulations for building. No businesses were allowed that would interfere with the textile industry. He relied heavily on input from the engineers and workmen of Lowell. Storrow had maintained his long-standing association with Lowell.

Abbott Lawrence, and others who were financially committed to developing Lawrence, gave Storrow full authority to plan the aspects of the new city from its dams and canals to the streets. The Essex Company raised the capital of one million dollars of which $500,000 was allotted to the dam, canal and mill island construction along with the north bank of the Merrimack. The remaining $500,000 was to pay for building mills and housing. Among the incorporators of the company were Daniel Saunders, Samuel Lawrence, John Nesmith and Edmund Bartlett. However, the major backing came from Abbott Lawrence, and in smaller amounts, from the company's directors, Patrick Jackson, Nathan Appleton, Ignatius Sargent, William Sturgis, and John Lowell. These men were all active in the development of Lowell. Appleton and Jackson were well known for their participation in the Boston Associates, a group of merchants who established the first textile mill in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1814. This highly profitable venture in Waltham led to the construction of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company in Lowell in 1822.

In his pursuit of the best qualified workers for this project, Charles Storrow attempted to hire James B. Francis, the well-known chief engineer for the Proprietors of Locks and Canals of Lowell. Francis refused the position, but did do consulting work for the new company. Storrow hired Joseph Bennett, a surveyor, who laid out the city's plan presumably under Storrow's instructions. However, Bennet's authority was overcome by Charles Bigelow, an assistant engineer, hired in 1846. Charles Bigelow was put in charge of constructing the dam. When the dam was finished three years to the day it was begun, it spanned 900 feet of the Merrimack River. Uriah Boyden, who worked with the Proprietors of Locks and Canals in developing turbines to replace breast wheels, served as a consultant. Mr. Folsom was also hired as the company's chief mason, while another former employee of the Locks and Canals became the Superintendent of the Lawrence Machine Shop during its brief existence.

The Essex Company planned to develop the land it had purchased along the Merrimack so that it would be suitable for textile production. The newly incorporated Essex Company would be responsible for the construction of a dam and several locks and canals which would create water power to use, sell, or lease to other persons or corporations.

The mammoth walls of the mills were rising fast -- the Pacific, the Washington, Pemberton, Lawrence Duck, and the brick mills of the BayState Corporation along the river. The Lawrence Machine Shop made of granite was owned by the Essex Company. It was here that machinery was made and repaired. In time, this shop was sold to a separate corporation known as the Lawrence Machine Company. The building still stands today and is known as the Stone Mill, a part of the Everett Mills.

The mills built by the Essex Company were built for their owners and turned over to them ready to run. The Essex Company sold the land, power, and for a price would build a mills, flumes, penstocks, raceways, and all that was necessary.

As the town grew, the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts chartered Lawrence as the "City of Lawrence" in 1853.

Taken from "The History of Lawrence Curriculum Project K-8, A cooperative venture between the City of Lawrence School Department and the Department of Environmental Management with the permission of Lawrence Heritage State Park.