Hitting the Big 100

Images of America

This photo is from the cover of the book, titled simply Lawrence Park, by Marjorie Dean McLean, which provides a good overview of the township's history. The Erie County Library has three circulating copies. The book is also available in the Heritage Room at Blasco Library and in the reference section at McCord Library in North East.

This is a big year for Marjorie Dean McLean.

She celebrates her 100th birthday.

Lawrence Park Township, where she has lived most of her adult life, marks its centennial.

And Mercyhurst University, Marjorie's alma mater, also hits the century mark.

Marjorie piqued my interest in these 2026 milestones the first time we met at the Lawrence Park Historical Society, where she volunteers as office manager. We were introduced thanks to Dick Obermanns, who enlisted me to help him research the history of Edison Elementary School, at 1921 East Lake Road, which Dick attended in the 1950s. The school will be razed after a new Edison, under construction south of the existing school, opens in the spring.

Dick and I are interested in learning about any possible early connections between Edison School, in the City of Erie, and General Electric Co., in Lawrence Park. Volunteers at the Lawrence Park Historical Society, including Marjorie, have graciously allowed us to pick their brains for our history project. Thomas Edison, the school's namesake, played a key role in what became the GE Works in Erie.

Time is valuable for Lawrence Park Historical Society volunteers. Located in the township building at 4230 Iroquois Ave., the historical society is usually only open on Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. During those busy hours, volunteers field calls, sort and organize collections, do research, and welcome visitors like Dick and me. For five years, they have also been planning for the centennial, according to Anna Mae Van Dyne, society president.

She and her colleagues are confident that Lawrence Park's story will appeal to "Parkers," the nickname for current and former township residents, to people in greater Erie, and to tourists.

As a young adult, Van Dyne moved from Erie to Lawrence Park and was delighted by the township's "small town community charm," the green spaces, the tree-lined streets and the distinctive neighborhoods, including the brick rowhouses modeled on English garden homes.

During her career as an underwriter at Erie Insurance, she stayed in Lawrence Park and remained there when she married Jim Van Dyne, who serves as the Historical Society's vice president.

The neighborhoods tell the story of the township's development, she said, starting with housing built during World War I, followed by World War II and then the '50s and '60s. "Each has its own character," she said.

Members of the Lawrence Park Historical Society display an iconic photo of the township, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Left to right are Jaye Beebe, Anna Mae Van Dyne, Jim Van Dyne and Marjorie McLean. The Historical Society will have an open house on Feb. 6 from 1 to 5 p.m., Feb. 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Feb. 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. (Contributed photo)

Township Manager Spencer Cadden admits to "waxing poetic" about Lawrence Park.

"Lawrence Park is part of a much bigger conversation surrounding industrial towns, corporate communities, planned architecture, and Erie's industrial history," he shared.

"Lawrence Park was built deliberately, planned to reflect a specific moment in Erie's broader industrial history. (It's) a reflection of how companies, workers, and families imagined a better life in a working community in the early 20th century, not just inside a state-of-the-art factory but in a town built by General Electric Co. Lawrence Park is a mirror showing how industrial power can shape daily life and how workers and residents ultimately shape their experience in return," Cadden shared.

In 2011, Marjorie wrote the book Lawrence Park, part of the Images of America series. From her book, I learned that the township is named after Captain James Lawrence, whose final words before he died in the War of 1812 became Oliver Hazard Perry's battle cry: "Don't give up the ship." I also discovered that Lawrence Park once boasted an amusement park, similar to Waldameer, on the shores of Lake Erie, that the quaint Dairy Queen on Iroquois Avenue dates to 1952, that actor Ronald Reagan visited Lawrence Park in 1954 (as the spokesman for General Electric), and that the Iroquois branch of the Erie County Library is designed to resemble an old-fashioned train station (Marjorie's book is in the library's collection).

Anna Mae, the historical society president, wants the centennial celebration to help people discover and understand the community's history, join walking tours, learn about why the streets are named after scientists, inventors, and explorers, and give everyone a sense of pride.

Indeed, the Lawrence Park Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to famed city planner John Nolen's role in designing it.

The centennial celebration kicks off the first weekend in February, with extended hours at the Historical Society Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a lecture at 1 p.m. on Feb. 7 about the origins of Lawrence Park, and the official Centennial Day observance on Feb. 8 to mark the date that Lawrence Park became a first-class township 100 years ago. To learn more, to volunteer or to donate, visit lp100year.com, email lp100years@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page, Lawrence Park Centennial Celebration.

Cadden, the township manager, elaborated on why he and so many others are excited to celebrate Lawrence Park throughout 2026. "The centennial, in my mind, isn't just nostalgia or a feel-good moment. It is about recognizing our past and acknowledging that Lawrence Park was an attempt to make life better. It was a corporation, a community and its people coming together to form something unique." He continues, "Our centennial is an opportunity for stewardship and to share our story and to talk about how we are going to move forward. Lawrence Park matters because it is a reminder that communities aren't accidents, they are built and tested, curated, and sustained by the people who live there and I think that is something that can be appreciated far outside the boundaries of Lawrence Park."

Along with Lawrence Park Township, Mercyhurst University celebrates its centennial this year. The Sisters of Mercy sold bonds door to door in 1924 to raise funding for construction. (Photo: Mercyhurst University)

I certainly appreciated learning from Marjorie that Mercyhurst University will also celebrate its centennial this year. On the university's dedicated website (mercyhurst.edu/centennial) you can scroll through an easy-to-navigate timeline and learn how the Sisters of Mercy went door to door in 1924 to sell bonds to construct the school, and that 50 nuns pitched in to finish building their new college after workers went on strike in August 1926 so the school could open that September. The website also documents the growth of women's sports, the decision for the school to admit male students, and the work on cancer research led by Sister M. Eymard Poydock, among many other achievements.

This September also marks the 30th anniversary of the premier of That Thing You Do! The Mercyhurst Centennial would be a great opportunity to pay tribute to this film, which Tom Hanks wrote, directed and starred in. After all, the Oneders, the fictional band at the film's center, rose to fleeting fame by winning a battle of the bands at Mercyhurst. The film also faithfully recreates what Erie, especially State Street, looked like in the 1960s, thanks to extensive research provided to the production company by the Hagen History Center.

And speaking of faithful reconstruction of the past, there is still time to see The Story of Us, Erie Polonia, the exhibit at Hagen curated by Bobby Sulecki. Jonathan Burdick wrote about the exhibit in the October issue of the Erie Reader.

Bobby, a longtime friend, said the final day of the exhibit is Jan. 30. "I think people are happy to learn what neighborhood their ancestors came from, which church they attended, that history," Bobby told me. "They tell me they are part Polish somewhere and they can feel that connection. We must preserve that heritage because much of it is lost, because most of us are now in the fourth and fifth generation." Visitors can do a self-guided tour, attend when Bobby is present on Jan. 14, 21, and 28 or set up an appointment by emailing him at suleckibobby@gmail.com.

As Bobby has explained to me many times, one of the best sources to learn local history is to seek out the storytellers. Dick Obermanns, Edison School grad, is one of them. So is Marjorie Dean McLean, devoted wife to one-time GE apprentice, Lynn McLean, mother of five, retired guidance counselor from Iroquois High School, office manager at the Lawrence Park Historical Society – and one of the oldest living alums of Edison Elementary School.

Liz Allen can be reached at lizallenerie@gmail.com. If you have Edison School memories, pass them along.