Lawrence is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Chemung Township, McHenry County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. Lawrence is northwest of

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. It was named a CDP before the 2020 census, at which time it had a population of 220.

History

A post office called Lawrence was established in 1856, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1903. The community was named for Lawrence Bigsby, the owner of the original town site.

Demographics

Lawrence first appeared as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2020 U.S. Census.

2020 census

January 2008 Tornado

In early January 2008, an EF3 tornado went through Lawrence. This caused major damage to several houses in the community. Although no deaths were reported, several injuries occurred. Although the initial tornado did little damage, a train that was operated by Wisconsin rail had been derailed and a tanker car containing hazardous materials rammed into the back of the locomotive before flipping over and leaking hazardous elements around the area, The entire crash was caught on video. This caused concerns to the community of Lawrence and later evacuated people in Lawrence and northern areas of the nearby town of Harvard. A fire was reported after the derailing of the train. The damage in the train crash is not known. Although the tornado alone caused about 8.3 million dollars in damages most likely from the train crash as the tornado did minor damage outside of Lawrence.

References

Census-designated places in Illinois Census-designated places in McHenry County, Illinois Chicago metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in McHenry County, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois {{McHenryCountyIL-geo-stub