Skip to main content
Lawrence Experiment Station
Society
Main Category
Era
Date Created
Location Country
us
Coordinates
42.698369, -71.165177
Address1
37 Shattuck Street
City
Lawrence
State
Country
Zip

Some of the station's notable achievements:  
The first method for detecting radioactive particles in water supplies  
A successful system of slow-sand filter beds for drinking water  
The landmark demonstration that microorganisms carried within filter media could degrade sewage 

The Massachusetts Legislature passed the Inland Waters Act in 1886, providing a comprehensive program to protect the state's rivers, streams, and ponds. As part of the implementation of the Act, the Massachusetts State Board of Health founded the Lawrence Experiment Station, whose principle mission was to develop practical methods for treating the growing volumes of wastewater that were seriously degrading surface waters in the state. 

The Lawrence Experiment Station grew into an engineering laboratory that performed pioneering research on the treatment of water supply, sewage, and industrial waste. Practical engineering principles developed at this facility led to dramatic reductions in water-borne diseases such as typhoid.

In 1993, the station was renamed the Senator William X. Wall Experiment Station, in memory of this Lawrence patriarch who served for nearly 40 years in the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives.

Facts  

  • The station was the first to devise a method of detecting radioactive particles in water supplies. 
  • It developed a successful system of slow-sand filter beds for drinking water in the U.S. 
  • The engineers provided the hallmark demonstration that microorganisms carried within filter media could degrade sewage.
The Lawrence Experiment Station was a pioneer engineering laboratory dedicated to research on the treatment of water supply, sewage and industrial waste and has been recognized nationally and internationally for contributions to the environmental engineering field.
Image Credit
Public Domain (Author's Choice)
Image Caption
Lawrence Experiment Station

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.