Recycling Center Lawrenceville, GA

Lawrenceville was incorporated by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 15, 1821. This makes Lawrenceville the second oldest city in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The city is named after Commodore James Lawrence, commander of the frigate Chesapeake during the War of 1812. Lawrence, a native of New Jersey, is probably best known today for his dying command, “Don’t give up the ship!” William Maltbie, the town’s first postmaster, suggested the name of “Lawrenceville.”

In 1821, a permanent site for the county courthouse was selected and purchased, the four streets bordering the square were laid out along with other streets in the village, and a public well was dug. Major Grace built the first permanent courthouse, a brick structure, in 1823-24 for a cost of $4,000. The courthouse presently on the square was constructed in 1885.

During the Civil War, Gwinnett County voted against secession. The county seat of Lawrenceville sent three delegates who unanimously voted against it. This was due to a low slave population with a ratio of 4 whites to 1 slave. Lawrenceville helped contribute to the Confederate war effort. The Lawrenceville Manufacturing Company, a cotton mill built in the 1850s, produced completed textile products such as uniforms. Although Lawrenceville would see no battles throughout the war, the city would be targeted by General Sherman’s famous March to the Sea, falling to frequent raids. The Lawrenceville Manufacturing Company would be burned down by Union soldiers, causing a serious blow to the city’s commercial sector. By the end of the war, half of the wealth of Lawrenceville was lost by the Civil War.