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Foundation of the Park
Former Mayor Elisha S. Converse left a 107.5 acre estate to the cities of Melrose and Malden in 1905 to be jointly used “forever as a public park” and managed by a nonprofit corporation comprised of a seven-member board of trustees from the two cities and a descendant of the Converse family. The will also stipulated that both cities must share equally in the cost of maintaining Pine Banks Park.
History and Geology of the Land The site reportedly belonged originally to the Wampanoags in the early 1660s and the Lynde family in the early 1700s. Some of the natural features of Pine Banks Park are hundreds of large evergreens, especially white pines and cedars, rocky ledges, Mount Ephraim, lookouts, a pond and wildlife. Millions of years ago, volcanoes altered the rocky areas and earthquakes created a fault line just south of the park. Thousands of years ago, mile high glaciers covered the land leaving an esker, a ridge formed as a rocky stream flowing under the ice, that today is a fascinating elevated walking path resembling a bridge.
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| Postcard of Pine Banks Park in Melrose and Malden. Published in early 1900s. |
| See photos of past and present park. |
| Read about The Foundation and download documents. | |
