When John Endicott landed in Salem (Naumkeag) in 1628 he started
a small colony focused on agriculture and the Bible. Two years later
John Winthrop arrived in Salem with over 1,500 Puritans fleeing
persecution in England. Moving south through the area of the Mystic
and Charles Rivers, Winthrop, after a brief stay in Charlestown,
moved on to found Shawmut, later to be known as Boston.
After and exploratory expedition through Middlesex Falls and Spots
Pond, Governor Winthrop asked the General Court to establish an
area north of Charlestown to be known as "Mystic Side",
for the use of the Charlestown Residents. By 1649 there were enough
inhabitants of that area that by agreement of the inhabitants of
Charlestown and with the consent of the General Court in Boston
a separate town, later known as Malden was established.
By 1887 the town of Malden had grown to a substantial center of
19th Century mercantile activity such as Elisha Slade Converse's
Boston Rubber Shoe Company, one of the largest businesses of its
kind in the United States. On January 31, 1877 Alexander Graham
Bell demonstrated the practicality of the box telephone with a call
from the home of Mayor Converse in Malden to the Boston branch of
his shoe company on Converse Street.
Today Malden is a city of some 53,000 residents. In addition to
some tenacious Yankees there are "established" communities
of Italian, Jewish and Irish descendants. Moreover Malden now has
many newly-established ethnic communities including persons of Chinese,
Vietnamese, Central American, Caribbean, Haitian, North African,
and Russo-Slavic origins, to name a few. All of these groups contribute
to the vitality of the City of Malden. In Malden High School there
are 45 different languages and students practicing 15-20 different
religions. Moreover with the establishment of Telecom City, a joint
venture with Medford and Everett to establish a enterprise zone
for high-technology research and development, Malden is in an ideal
position for the 21st century.
Histories of Malden
Malden, from Primitive Past to Progressive Present
Ruth Kimball Randall
Published 1975 by the Malden Historical Society by Phoenix Publishing,
Caanan, New Hampshire
Library of Congress Catalog Number 74-30896
ISBN 0-914016-15-6
The History of Malden, Massachusetts 1633-1785
Deloraine Pendre Corey
Originally Published 1899
Facsimile Reprint 1992 by Heritage Books, Bowie, Maryland
SBN 1-55613-562-9
Local Websites
Official Website of the City of Malden
Official
Website of the City of Boston
Boston.com
Your Town
Malden
Places
to Stay
Malden Information from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Malden
Public Library