From left, Dennis Montagna, National Park Service Superintendent Paul DePrey and Lydia Pinkham House owners Karen and Michael Malionek during the Historic Landmark Designation Ceremony on Sunday. Photo by Scott Eisen
By Gayla Cawley
LYNN — The former home of Lydia Pinkham, a pioneer for women’s health, was officially recognized as the city’s first National Historic Landmark on Sunday.
The Western Avenue house, owned by Michael and Karen Malionek since 2001, was deemed a national historic landmark in 2014, but Sunday’s recognition ceremony unveiled a plaque detailing the status. The monument rests on stone donated by the Solimine family, and was placed in front of the dwelling, visible from the street.
“We’re really proud of it,” said Karen Malionek of the designation.
The monument reads that from 1877 to 1886 at the home, Lydia Pinkham and her sons produced and marketed their vegetable compound, one of the best-known patent medicines of the 19th century. Pinkham remained the face of the company well beyond her death in 1883.
The compound was used to relieve hot flashes and other symptoms associated with menopause, along with cramps and other distress linked to menstruation.
A wide array of products for women are sold today, but Pinkham’s vegetable compound was the one available in the 19th century, said Paul DePrey.
National Park Service superintendent for Salem Maritime Museum and Saugus Iron Works, DePrey officiated Sunday’s ceremony.
DePrey said Pinkham capitalized on a niche in women’s health that had not yet been met. She initially became an entrepreneur to bail her family out of financial problems. Her first customers were relatives and friends who received free samples of her products.
Although 19th century product safety and standard laws were non existent, DePrey said Pinkham met the standards of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which was designed to make products safer for consumers.
Under the law, drug labels had to list addictive or dangerous ingredients. Drugs also had to pass purity levels.
“She was one of those individuals who were the standard,” DePrey said. “Lynn is the home of this individual who was not just a successful businesswoman, but whose lasting impact continues to this day in the form of medicine and attention to women’s health that did not exist prior to her business.”
Karen Malionek said she was personally grateful that the house had not been remodeled, sided, divided, gutted or updated and had survived several decades of sheer benign neglect upon the couple’s purchase.
Michael Malionek said Ed Hogan, a contractor and realtor, had bought the home before them, to restore it and then sell it. He fixed the home and kept everything original, he said, and if it wasn’t for Hogan, the dwelling may have become chopped up and reverted to multi-family housing.
“Those responsible for bringing the Lydia Pinkham house to the attention of the United States, by way of this designation, have added yet another piece of the American experience and heritage for the education of generations to come,” Karen Malionek said. “It is the story of a strong, intelligent woman and (how) her family, though mired in poverty, followed the American dream, as unlikely as it must have been, some 140 years ago.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
