History

Featured

From Malden to Maldon: City Councilor celebrates the historic connection

January 3, 2025 NeighborhoodView 0

By Lindsay Perdue Malden City Council President Steve Winslow traveled 3,000 miles from home, only to find himself back in Maldon: that’s Malden with an “o,” the city of Malden, Massachusetts’ namesake in England. During a European vacation last July, the longtime Malden resident and Bike to the Sea co-founder, explored the two cities’ deep historical connection. He took a six-hour ferry from the Netherlands to Harwich, England, followed by a train journey through rural, agricultural land before arriving in Maldon, England, a quaint town 35 miles northeast of London. Malden, Massachusetts was named after Maldon, England. It is located near the coast on the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex County and is surrounded by farmland. According to the City of Malden’s website, Malden was incorporated as a separate town on May 2, 1649. The name ‘Malden’ was chosen by Joseph Hill, an early settler and landholder who emigrated to the United States from Maldon, England. “It’s very similar to Ipswich, Massachusetts because it’s on the coast and surrounded by agricultural areas,” Winslow said. […]

Featured

Historic Ferry Street building in danger of being demolished has ties to one of the first Malden daycare facilities

December 18, 2024 NeighborhoodView 0

By Maria Membreno For the past 100 years, it has been used as offices for lawyers, for the Tri-City Mental Health and Retardation Association, and for the Industrial Aid Society which, as far back as 1894, ran a day nursery for working factory women. Now, the historic M. Ida Converse building stands vacant on 15 Ferry Street and is in danger of being demolished. The developer who owns the building, and the vacant lot next to it, wants the building removed so he can build a 7-story commercial/residential structure on the two lots, but some city officials and residents are still hopeful the building can be saved, perhaps by moving it to another nearby location. “We want to make sure that we preserve this site and this building wherever it is in order to be able to teach the next generation not only about Malden history but about the importance of philanthropy in our community, as a way to move forward that people give back to their community,” Malden Public Library Director Dora St. Martin […]

Events

From Malden to Hudson Valley: Two strangers discover shared family legacy and hidden history of enslavement in New York

December 3, 2024 Kami Nguyen 1

By Kami Nguyen Eleanor Mire, a lifelong Malden resident, wanted to learn about her family’s past after she watched the Ken Burns documentary series, The Civil War.  “I always point to that because there was so much he put into that that I absolutely didn’t know, and I thought I knew about the Civil War,” Mire said. “That pushed me to start looking into my family and how they related to the Civil War, and that opened the floodgates.” Mire’s ancestors are part of a myriad of individual family histories that have shaped the past, present, and future of the United States. Some stories are waiting to be told, truths yet to be discovered.  In her new book, A Hudson Valley Reckoning, Debra Bruno reckons with her family history of slaveholding and the realities of slavery in northern states. At the center of this story are Mire’s ancestors, who were enslaved in the 1800s by Bruno’s ancestors in upstate New York.  Mire’s great-grandparents on another side of her family moved to Malden in 1906 from Boston. […]

Business

Large Retail/Condo building planned for demolished Teen Center site but fate of historic building is at stake

November 7, 2024 NeighborhoodView 1

By Mark Micheli The large hole in downtown Malden created by the demolition of the Malden Teen Center four years ago could be replaced with a 7-story building with retail on the first floor and about 60 residential condominiums above that. But first, the city and the developer have to decide the fate of a historic building next door. The historic M. Ida Converse building at 15 Ferry Street will likely be demolished if the city is unable to move it to another location. And that’s because the developer, Alpha Business Center LLC, has permission to demolish it to make way for its plans to construct a large building over that lot, as well as the lot next door at 1 Salem Street. Even if the historic building is demolished or moved, the developer would still need special permits from the city to carry out its building plans on the prominent downtown corner of Ferry, Salem and Main Streets, according to Ward 4 City Councilor Ryan O’Malley. High School Site Eyed For Historic Building A […]

Business

Building Community Momentum: The future of Maplewood Square

May 9, 2024 Joy Pearson 2

By Joy Pearson Plans have begun to make improvements to the historic Maplewood business district in Malden. A Maplewood Square Committee of Ward 5 and Ward 6 residents has been following up on the research done in spring 2023 by the ‘Initiative on Cities,’ a capstone project for Master’s students of the Boston University Metropolitan College in City Planning and Urban Affairs. Maplewood Square is 1.5 miles east of Malden Center down Salem Street. Its name dates back to 1853 when Joshua Webster who, as surveyor, connected the Saugus railroad line to the Boston and Maine railroad.  In the mid-nineteenth century, Webster sought to establish a community in the area including 200 maple trees.  And so it was done.  Businesses grew; changes occurred.  Ten years ago, the old Saugus railroad was transformed and made into a bike and pedestrian path that crosses Maplewood Street.  Since then, the path has been part of the Northern Strand Bike Path through the Bike to the Sea organization.  It is well-used by locals and by New England bicyclists. Then and now, […]