Malden's history

Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on land purchased in 1629 from the Pawtucket Indians. The area was originally called "Mistick Side" and was a part of Charlestown.

It was incorporated as a separate town in 1649. The name Malden was selected by Joseph Hills, an early settler and landholder, and was named after Maldon, a port city in the county of Essex, England. Malden, which originally included what are now the adjacent cities of Melrose (until 1850) and Everett (until 1870), was incorporated as a city in 1882.

The first code of enacted laws printed in New England was compiled here by Joseph Hills in 1648.

By the early 1700s the population had grown to about 1,000, a good-sized town for the time. Malden's citizens were involved early in resisting the oppression of Britain. They stopped using tea in 1770 to protest the Revenue Act of 1766, and Malden was the first town in Massachusetts to petition the colonial government to secede from England.

By 1882, Malden had swelled in population to more than 12,300 and in the process became a city. Modern Malden has a total area of 5 square miles, and a population of about 54,000. It supports more than 800 businesses, and more than 50 types of products are manufactured there, including computer printers, women's wear, fire hoses, mattresses, name plates, paper boxes, aluminum windows, food, furniture, toys, inks, and chemicals.

Malden High School and neighboring Medford High School have the second-oldest continuous high school football rivalry in the United States, with the first "Thanksgiving Day Game" dating back to 1889.

Sources: Wikipedia, the City of Malden, and "The History of Malden, Massachusetts, 1633-1785," by Deloraine Pendre Corey.