The Wilderness That Became Lawrence

This book project began in the fall of 1974. At that time, Jim Mahoney's 7th-grade class began asking some local history questions for which he had no answers. He promised to look into the matter. After researching several libraries, he found no works done exclusively about Lawrence Township. Mahoney and his class decided to do their own research on the subject.

The class collected information already written about Lawrence Township, and began to accumulate important knowledge of the township. At this point, it would have been easy to quit. But the class' enthusiasm prompted Mahoney to continue working. They expanded to local sources of information: township records, letters, old newspapers, diaries, and church records, beginning to build a good framework from which to write a book.

Then came the most exciting part of the project. In the summer of 1975, the students, now eighth-graders, began interviewing residents of the community. Questions and answers were recorded on tape, transcribed, and then organized. The class did an outstanding job. Wherever possible, students were involved in making this product. It was their effort, enthusiasm, and hard work that brought this book about.

This reprint is a faithful reproduction of the original book, created by the Lawrence Elementary School eighth-grade class, first printed in 1976.