The
Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) opened through Malden in July 1845. The first station was a two-story wooden depot on the east side of the tracks at Pleasant Street; it was replaced by a smaller station on the west side in 1871. In May 1891, the B&M began construction of a new station as part of a grade crossing elimination project. The new station opened in 1892. Malden Center station opened on December 27, 1975, as part of the
MBTA's
Haymarket North Extension of the
Orange Line. Expansion to Malden had been a long-time goal of the
Boston Elevated Railway, and the Everett extension of the
Charlestown Elevated was originally planned to go past Everett and into Malden and Reading via Main Street. However, residents of Malden were opposed to the
elevated railroad structure that was planned, and prevented the extension. The 1975 extension was built along the existing Western Route embankment rather than Main Street. The former station platform closed simultaneously with the opening of the Orange Line station. A high-level platform - the first on the MBTA system - was installed along the Reading Line track, but Reading Line trains did not stop. The platform opened for regular service on May 1, 1977, but closed again on September 1, 1979. North Station reopened on April 20, 1985; the commuter platform at Oak Grove closed but the platform at Malden was reopened. Because of its Orange Line connection, Malden Center can serve as a temporary inbound terminus for the Haverhill Line when commuter rail service is disrupted between Malden and Boston's North Station. It served this role in 2016 during reconstruction work on the Woods Memorial Bridge, which carries the
Revere Beach Parkway over the rail lines and the Malden River. Oak Grove station is usually used during weekday disruptions, as it is closer to the double-track section of the line in Melrose. In 1989, the MBTA studied a possible accessible footbridge at the station, which would have cost $2.8 million and opened in 1991. The station was not initially accessible, but it was built with provisions for a future elevator. The MBTA began a renovation of the station, then estimated to cost $6 million, in 2003. It was originally to be completed in 2003, but was substantially delayed by changes to building codes. Completed in 2005, the ultimately-$10 million project added a second exit stairwell and two
elevators, making the station
accessible. In 2002, as part of its
public art program, the MBTA added panels with artworks by local schoolchildren at and Malden Center. The station also has two benches in the lobby painted by local arts students. Malden Center was one of the ten high-ridership subway stations planned to receive new wayfinding signage, lighting, and other station improvements in 2019. Six of the station were completed in 2019 and 2020; designs were completed for Malden Center and three others, but they were not constructed due to a lack of available funding. The entire Orange Line, including the Orange Line platform at Malden Center station, was closed from August 19 to September 18, 2022, during maintenance work. The
Haverhill Line continued to stop at Malden Center during that time. Rail service on the inner Haverhill Line was suspended from September 9 to November 5, 2023, to accommodate signal work. The
Encore Boston Harbor casino ran shuttles to Malden Center from its June 2019 opening until mid-2023. ==References==