Lawrence

Lawrence is on a spur off Farm Road 1392 five miles northwest of Terrell in northwestern Kaufman County. The first settlers in the area came in the early 1840s. The Texas and Pacific Railway arrived in 1872. Two years later the community received a post office and was named Lawrence. By the early 1880s Lawrence had 200 residents, three stores, a hotel, a church, and a school. Farmers in the area brought their crops to Lawrence to take advantage of the corn and grist mills there and the grain cars of the Texas and Pacific. The population of Lawrence was 176 in 1904 but dropped to seventy-five by 1925 and remained at that level throughout the 1930s. One result of the decrease in population was the loss of postal service to the community during the decade. Following World War II the number of residents dropped to forty, but the community revived in the 1970s. In 1974 Lawrence once again surpassed the 100 figure and in 1988 reported 113 residents. In 1990 the population was 231. The population grew to 279 in 2000.