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Historic Walking Tour of Downtown Stoneham
Take this self-guided tour of downtown Stoneham.
Stoneham was first settled about 1645 as a quiet farming community known as Charlestown End. In 1725, it was incorporated as a separate town with the center located at the present Pleasant and Summer Streets intersection. After the Medford-Andover Turnpike (now Main Street/Route 28) was built in 1806, residents and merchants began relocating to be near the turnpike and a new town center emerged. The population began expanding rapidly in the 1840s as the Industrial Revolution meant shoe-making shifted from small home businesses to large-scale factories that drew workers to the town. Later in the century as transportation improved with trains and trolleys, Stoneham came within easy trading and commuting distance of Boston. Learn more.
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