BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a nineteenth-century public building. Not a photograph of this place.

Browne-Masonic Building

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.

From the record

“Malden Young Men's Christian Association. - In the fall of 1884 this institution first took form and shape in the mind of one young man whose hope it had been for several years, and then by the union of several others, whose desires were as strong as his. As a result, a dozen or more young men who desired an opportunity lor self-culture and improvement in various studies, decided tojoin together in a kind of class, to meet at their houses one evening in each week, and talk over the readings which they should undertake in their leisure hours.”

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men (1890). Machine-read text.

one of 1100 National Register listings in Middlesex County · listed in 2022 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.

Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 126-150 Pleasant St., Malden, 02148
  • When was it listed? 2022-03-25
  • Category. building
  • Township. Malden city
  • National Register reference number. 100007522 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

The ground it stands on

49,084 words

The chapter on Malden City in History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890 names Malden. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

Malden Medical Improvement Society. - This society Was instituted in 1888, but it was really an outgrowth of the Holmes Medical Club, which w.os started in the city of Maiden some ten years ago, and included the select phy.sicians of Maiden, Medford, Melrose and Stoneham. This society is conducted on the same plan .as the State Medical Society, meeting monthly, when essays and i)apers are read. There is also a presentation of cases. In the winter of 1889, there was given a course of lectures worthy of note. In this society was born the idea of the Maiden City Hospital ; and when Deacon Converse was asked what he could do to help embody the idea, he responded nobly by giving $10,000 in cash, and several -acres of beautiful land. .John L. Sullivan is the present president of the society ; John B. Mahoney, secretary ; Godfrey Ryder, treasurer.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

Malden Industrial Aid Society. - This society w:is organized in 1875, the year of the great fire at the R iblier Works. Its object, as stated in the constitution 9 to relieve and prevent destitution, by renderin j; I'rompt, efficient, and judicious aid to the deserving, necessitous poor in our own town ; and to encourage thrift, by endeavoring to cultivate the self-respect and self-reliance of those to whom aid is rendered.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1890.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Malden City - 49,084 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Fires near this property

85 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 85 fires within 5 miles of Browne-Masonic Building between 2015 and 2020, burning about 110 acres in total. None started naturally. 29 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Arson/incendiarism29
Missing data/not specified/undetermined24
Recreation and ceremony13
Debris and open burning11
Smoking4
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMELROSE

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 1,659 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,659 specimens collected within 10 miles of Browne-Masonic Building between 1898 and 1975: 734 Animalia, 504 Plantae, 360 Fungi, 26 Protozoa, 17 Bacteria, 10 Chromista, 8 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Bulbostylis capillaris, not of this specimenBulbostylis capillaris var. crebra Fernald1898C. H. KnowltonBoston.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus cinnabarinus, not of this specimenCantharellus cinnabarinus (Schwein.) Schwein.1898not recordedNewton.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus infundibuliformis, not of this specimenCantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr.1898not recordedMelrose.
A photograph of the species Cladonia coccifera, not of this specimenCladonia coccifera (L.) Willd.1898Francis P DanielsCambridge
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1898Francis P DanielsArlington Heights
A photograph of the species Cordyceps capitata, not of this specimenCordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link1898Conant, [?] F.Middlesex Fells
A photograph of the species Crataegus coccinea, not of this specimenCrataegus coccinea L.1898NoneHarvard University Arboretum
A photograph of the species Ctenidium malacodes, not of this specimenCtenidium malacodes Mitt.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.

All 1,659 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 16 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 16 workings within 5 miles of Browne-Masonic Building: 9 plants, 4 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Lead, Gypsum-Anhydrite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
(Facility) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma.Copper, LeadPlant
C. J. MabardySand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mahoney:S Rocky LedgePeatPast ProducerPeat
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant
Us Gypsum Co--BostonGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Whittemore Prdts Inc--BostonPerlitePlant
(Facility) Cambridge Smelter CoLeadPlant
General Metals & Smelting--BostonLeadPlant
Industrial Serv. Centers--CambridgeIronPlant
Somerville Smelting Co.LeadPlant

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Storms near this property

6 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Malden, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 2007 and 2021: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2021Thunderstorm WindMalden$10,000In Malden, a tree was down on a car on Clinton Street. In Medford, a tree was down on Cushing Street. Also in Medford, a tree was down on Carberry Street. A tree and wires were down and leaning on a house on Governor's Avenue.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindMalden$500In Medford, there was a tree down on the 900 block of Highland Ave.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindMalden$500In Malden, a tree was down on Fellsway East.
November 2018FloodMalden-In Malden, a portion of Highland Avenue was flooded and closed for a time, shortly after midnight.
June 2012FloodMalden-Pleasant Street was flooded with eight to twelve inches of water.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindMalden-Trees and power lines down on Newton Street.

Every storm recorded in Middlesex County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Waitt Brick Block0.2 miles1982
Haven, Wilbur Fiske, House0.3 miles1992
Odd Fellows Building0.3 miles1988
St. Paul's Parish Church0.4 miles2001
Common Burying Ground at Sandy Bank0.6 miles1981
Daniels, Charles A., School0.9 miles1987

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 100007522 in Record Group 79.
Middlesex CountyAll 1100 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.