Massachusetts Street:

Monuments and Milestones

1950 - 1969

The Bay Leaf, 725 Mass St., 1950s.

West side of 700 block of Mass St., 1960s.

Mister Guy, 920 Mass St., 1965.

Ecke Building, now Ingredient, 947 Mass St, 1950s.

10th and Mass St. before installation of new street lights, 1950s. Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries.

10th and Mass St. after installation of new street lights, 1950s. Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries.

Gallagher Motors, 634 Mass St., 1950s. Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries.

Southern view of 6th and Mass St., 1950s.

          The economy in Lawrence received a big boost when major businesses in town expanded or when new ones were built. The Kansas Color Press expanded and Westvaco Chemical built a sodium plant north of Lawrence. Stokely Company expanded its canning plant on 10th Street and Kansas Power and Light announced a large construction project. This trend continued during the decade and brought Lawrence more than $40 million in revenue.

          During the 1960s, Lawrence doubled in size and enrollment at the University of Kansas had rebounded from a war-time lull. Even though Lawrence was growing, it maintained its small town appeal and eccentricity.

Important dates during this time period:

1950 – Start of the Korean War

1954 – Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education – separate but equal ruled unconstitutional

1959 – Castro takes over Cuba

1960 – John F. Kennedy elected president

1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis

1963 – Civil Rights march in Washington/ Kennedy assassinated

1965 – Malcolm X assassinated

1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated

1969 – Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon

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