Lawrence, Illinois

A post office called Lawrence was established in 1856, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1903.^[4] The community was named for Lawrence Bigsby, the owner of the original town site.^[5]

On January 7, 2008, an EF3 tornado went through Lawrence. This caused major damage to several houses in the community.^[6] 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.^[7]

Lawrence first appeared as a census designated place in the 2020 U.S. census.^[10]