{{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Essex Company Machine Shop | nrhp_type = | image = Essex Company Machine Shop, Lawrence, MA.jpg | caption = | location = Lawrence, Massachusetts | coordinates = {{coord|42|42|34|N|71|9|17|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Massachusetts#USA | area = | built = 1846 | architect = | architecture = | added = November 9, 1972 | refnum = 72000138<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> | nrhp_type2 = cp | nocat = yes | designated_nrhp_type2 = November 13, 1984 | partof = North Canal Historic District | partof_refnum = 84000417 }}

'''Essex Company Machine Shop''', also known as '''Stone Mill''' or the '''Lawrence Machine Shop''', is a historic machine shop on Union Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It was built in 1846 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

==History== The Essex Company was incorporated on March 20, 1845, for the purpose of creating a manufacturing town on the Merrimack River. The town eventually became Lawrence.

thumbnail|left|Site plan of the Essex Company complex as it appeared in 1850. Note that north is at the bottom of the plan.To attract manufacturers, the Essex Company dammed the river with the Great Stone Dam and created a canal to provide a power source for future businesses. The machine shop was created at the head of the canal as part of a foundry to service the Essex Company and tenant manufacturers. The facility consisted of the machine shop, a foundry, a forge shop containing 32 forges, and a chimney connected via an underground flue to the forges. The entire complex was warmed by steam and had power provided by two Fourneyron water turbines.<ref name=sanitary>{{cite book|last=Massachusetts Sanitary Commission|title=Sanitary Survey of the Town of Lawrence|url=https://archive.org/details/sanitarysurveyof01mass|year=1850|publisher=Dutton and Wentworth|location=Boston, MA}}</ref>

A branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad encircled the complex to allow for delivery of raw materials and coal.<ref name=sanitary />

In 1850, the complex employed 400 but was designed with the capacity to employ 800-1000 workers.<ref name=sanitary />

==Description of the building== The machine shop building is one of the few remaining structures from the original Essex Company site. It is {{convert|404|ft|m}} long and {{convert|64|ft|m}} wide. It is four stories high and was designed to allow access to steam locomotives. The other surviving structure is the 142' (43&nbsp;m) high chimney.<ref name=sanitary />

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==See also== {{Commons category|Essex Company Machine Shop}} *National Register of Historic Places listings in Lawrence, Massachusetts *National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{NRHP in Lawrence, Massachusetts}}

Category:Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Category:National Register of Historic Places in Lawrence, Massachusetts Category:Historic district contributing properties in Essex County, Massachusetts Category:Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Massachusetts Category:Machine shops Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1846 Category:1846 establishments in Massachusetts {{EssexCountyMA-NRHP-stub}}