Lechmere Square

It was originally named for the Colonial-era landowner Richard Lechmere, a Loyalist who returned to England at the beginning of the American Revolution.

The Lechmere store expanded into a regional chain, which was closed in 1997 as then-parent company Montgomery Ward filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[2] The area is now best known for the CambridgeSide mall, one of the few full-fledged interior shopping malls within the city limits of Boston and Cambridge, which is on the site of the original Lechmere store (and, when built, incorporated a newly built Lechmere Sales store as one of its anchor tenants).

In years past, Lechmere Square was a manufacturing center producing candy, furniture, and caskets.

Lechmere Square and the surrounding East Cambridge are currently undergoing a revival of sorts.