Massachusetts Street Images of America

Local historian Robert C. Dinsdale, MD, searched more than 30,000 photographs to bring forth a time-travel tale of the founding, building, and full expression of what makes Mass Street one of the most beloved main thoroughfares in the country.

Massachusetts Street (known as "Mass Street" in local lingo) has been the heart of Lawrence, Kansas, since 1854, when the political aspirations and commercial motivations of the abolitionist founders intersected on this ground between the right-angle bend of the Kansas River and the meandering Oregon Trail. It is where optimistic entrepreneurs built a dam and a bridge and railroads to power and grow our town for commerce and where residents of Kansas Territory met to form antislavery political parties. Mass Street, laid out to point to the North Star, was the scene of terror when mass murder and arson were visited on the town in 1863; within days, it was the hub of resolute reconstruction. This is the place to be, the place where people live, shop, parade, protest, and be themselves as only Lawrencians can. The story of Mass Street includes the inventor of basketball, James Naismith; the post-Prohibition rebirth of Kansas beer brewing; and the arena for the greatest Native American athlete ever.