The Essex Company broke ground on the Great Stone Dam across the Merrimack River on August 1, 1845, and within two years had laid out an entire city on paper before a single mill worker moved in. Lawrence was incorporated in 1847 as the last and largest of the planned textile cities built by Boston industrialists, and the street grid, canal system, and mill-yard boundaries those investors drew up still shape how the city is policed, patrolled, and protected today.
By Derek Kreymer, Operations Manager
Hub Security and Investigative Group provides security guard services in Lawrence, MA — armed and unarmed guards, mobile patrol, and licensed private investigation services — for an Essex County city of 88,736 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate) built on a bend of the Merrimack River. Lawrence is home to the Great Stone Dam and canal system built by the Essex Company in the 1840s, the site of the 1912 Bread and Roses textile strike, and a New Balance manufacturing plant that remains one of the city’s larger employers.
Security Built Around Lawrence’s Districts
The Essex Company’s original street plan split Lawrence into distinct sections by function — mill yards along the canals, worker housing on the hills above them, and commercial blocks along Essex Street. That division is still visible in how the city is used today, and Hub Security assigns coverage by district rather than treating Lawrence as one uniform service area.
South Lawrence, across the river from the original mill district, combines residential blocks with retail plazas along South Broadway, where Hub provides retail security for shopping centers and standalone stores. Tower Hill and Prospect Hill, built as streetcar suburbs for mill managers and skilled workers a century ago, are now dense residential neighborhoods where Hub runs residential security patrols for apartment buildings and multi-family properties. The former mill complexes along the canals — including buildings that once housed Pacific Mills and Arlington Mills — have been converted into office, light-industrial, and mixed-use space, where Hub provides corporate security for tenants. Active redevelopment projects along the riverfront and in the former mill yards give Hub’s construction site security teams regular work protecting equipment and materials after hours.
What Local Crime Data Actually Shows
Lawrence recorded a violent crime rate of 4.41 per 1,000 residents, according to FBI-sourced data compiled by NeighborhoodScout — above the Massachusetts state average of 3.15 per 1,000. The same data lists 7 murders in the most recent reporting year and a property crime rate of 10.02 per 1,000, which is below the state average of 11.12 per 1,000. NeighborhoodScout ranks Lawrence as safer than 27 percent of U.S. cities.
Those numbers are consistent with what a 19th-century mill city built at high density on a compact street grid produces today: violent crime concentrated in specific blocks rather than spread evenly across the city, and property crime running closer to the state norm. Hub Security uses this pattern to weight patrol frequency and guard placement toward the corridors where incidents actually cluster, rather than applying the same staffing plan citywide.
Coverage by District
| District | Key Local Features | Hub Security Focus |
|---|---|---|
| South Lawrence | South Broadway retail corridor, residential side streets | Retail security, residential patrol |
| Tower Hill / Prospect Hill | Dense multi-family housing, former streetcar suburb | Residential security guards, foot and vehicle patrol |
| Former Mill District (Canal Street area) | Converted mill buildings — Pacific Mills, Arlington Mills complexes | Corporate security, access control |
| Riverfront / Redevelopment Zones | Active construction and renovation projects along the Merrimack | Construction site security |
What Hub Security Provides in Lawrence
- Armed and unarmed guards for retail plazas and standalone stores along South Broadway and Essex Street
- Residential security patrols for apartment buildings and multi-family housing in Tower Hill and Prospect Hill
- Corporate security for offices and light-industrial tenants in converted mill buildings
- Construction site security for riverfront redevelopment and mill-conversion projects
- Mobile patrol with GPS-logged checkpoints across South Lawrence and the downtown mill district
- Background check services and corporate investigations for Lawrence employers
Serving Lawrence and the Surrounding Area
Hub Security and Investigative Group covers Lawrence alongside the rest of the Merrimack Valley and nearby Greater Boston communities, using the same licensed officers and dispatch team across the region. Businesses and property managers in Lawrence often sit within the same coverage routes as these nearby towns:
- our coverage in Lowell
- our coverage in Woburn
- our coverage in Burlington
Why Lawrence Businesses and Residents Choose Hub
- Massachusetts-licensed for both security guard services and private investigation services
- Fully insured, with background-checked and trained officers
- GPS patrol tracking and unannounced supervisor inspections on every shift
- Local management that knows Lawrence’s districts and history — not a national call center or app-based guard broker
- 24/7 emergency dispatch at (617) 857-1200
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lawrence, MA a high-crime city? Lawrence’s violent crime rate of 4.41 per 1,000 residents is above the Massachusetts state average of 3.15, according to NeighborhoodScout, while its property crime rate of 10.02 per 1,000 is slightly below the state average of 11.12. Hub Security uses this data to focus patrol coverage on the corridors with the highest incident concentration.
Does Hub Security provide armed guards in Lawrence? Yes. Hub provides both armed and unarmed guards in Lawrence, assigned based on the property type, location, and the client’s risk assessment.
Can Hub Security patrol converted mill buildings and mixed-use properties? Yes. Hub Security regularly staffs corporate security and access control for offices and light-industrial tenants in Lawrence’s former mill buildings along the canal district.
Is Hub Security licensed to operate in Lawrence, MA? Yes. Hub Security and Investigative Group is licensed in Massachusetts for both security guard services and private investigation services, and holds all required state licensing to operate in Lawrence and throughout Essex County.
Call Hub Security & Investigative Group at (617) 857-1200 for a free consultation on security guard services in Lawrence, MA, or request a quote online.