The textile industry has left Lawrence and other areas of the northeast, and the mills are largely obsolete for purposes of contemporary industry.
Most cities have enough space to abandon the mills and build usable structures elsewhere.
This is both good and bad. It enables communities to respond relatively quickly to economic development opportunity, but it postpones problems that may inhibit the sustainability of growth. The most obvious manifestation of the problem might be the appearance of an abandoned mill building and its impact on attracting business or residential development. More serious, however, are the hidden problems - the contamination of the soil and water by the toxic residue of previous industry. With enough land available, cities might ignore these Brownfields and instead redevelop elsewhere.