Malden history

Featured

Malden featured in author Sam Baltrusis’ ’13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts’

October 16, 2015 neighbormedia 0

Listen up guys and ghouls! Neighborhood View’s Sam Baltrusis, author of the new book “13 Most Haunted in Massachusetts,” writes about the things that go bump in the night. He assembled a motley crew of the state’s most paranormally active in a show airing on MATV at 7 to 9 p.m. the last three Fridays in October. He also penned a book perfect for the Halloween season. Score tickets to the book launch on Oct. 20 or Oct. 27. Here’s an excerpt: Malden is a city with an inexplicably large number of wayward spirits and residual hauntings. Sure, it’s not a typically haunted city and deviates a bit from the Lizzie Borden or Salem witch city norm. However, there’s a historical legacy that’s often overlooked by ghost hunters and para-celebs. It’s also an easy Orange Line train ride from Boston and my home in Somerville’s Assembly Row. During the winter, I was covering an event in the old wing of the historic Malden Public Library. The well-preserved throwback to the gilded age was recently featured […]

Featured

End of an era as Malden’s historic Ruderman’s building is torn down

June 22, 2015 thatandtheotter 4

Michael Young stands at the podium in the moments before the bidding begins at the Antique Co-op and Auction House on Eastern Avenue on May 23. As he speaks into the microphone the crowd before him goes silent, “At this very moment the old Ruderman’s is getting torn down,” says Young. “Head on down there this afternoon for a commemorative brick – it’s the end of an era.” After years of vacancy the Ruderman’s building at 42 Ferry St. has indeed been torn down.  The last business to lease the space left in 2011.  For years the building has stood with locked doors and newspaper lined windows, its fate uncertain. A CVS will be constructed where the old Ruderman’s once stood.  CVS currently operates in three distinct locations in Malden: Pleasant Street, Eastern Avenue and Broadway. Neither an exact date for start of construction nor a projected open date for the location have been publicly announced.  There has been neither confirmation nor denial of speculation that this CVS may serve as a replacement for the […]

Featured

Malden’s Suffolk Square is a forgotten Jewish enclave

February 18, 2015 sharonsantillo 278

Have you ever heard the term banker’s hours? This usually refers to being open for the shortest, most inconvenient hours. But back before Suffolk Square in Malden, Massachusetts was leveled for urban renewal, banker’s hours had a whole different meaning. Suffolk Square was a Jewish enclave in Malden, the heart of which was in the vicinity of Cross and Bryant streets and the old Lincoln Junior High School. When Elaine Lubin’s grandparents wanted to buy land in Malden, the large, established banks in Malden Square weren’t where they went for a mortgage. The Jewish bank in Suffolk Square, Progressive Workmen’s Credit Union, saw the potential in this hard-working Polish Catholic couple who had immigrated to Massachusetts from Vilna in what is now Lithuania. They approved of their plan for a small dairy farm in the area of Bowdoin Street and Bent Avenue and gave them a mortgage for the property that they then purchased from Mrs. Bent. When Elaine’s parents needed a car loan for their new blue Plymouth, they also went to Mr. Eiseman at […]

Arts

‘Here Come the Brides’ exhibit at the MPL

June 8, 2014 neighbormedia 0

Running of the brides? What’s old is new again at the historical “Here Come the Brides” exhibit at the Malden Public Library’s lower art gallery in the Converse Memorial Building. Curated by John Tramondozzi, the collection showcases wedding dresses dating back to Catherine Mahoney Walsh’s dress from 1883 to Nancy Mover Cohn’s gown from 1983. There is also a parade of photos and other memorabilia offering an intimate peek into the lives of the brides from Malden’s past. Exhibit runs Tuesdays 6-8 p.m., Wednesday 2-4 p.m. and Thursdays 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. through July 3.