Pierre Mali of Mali Drive

I moved in a few years ago and thought, 'hmm, I wonder why this is named, 'Mali Drive'?" I did some research and I found Mr. Pierre Mali, born August 19, 1856 in Belgium He passed away 4 October 1923. (I meant to post this earlier in the month of October and forgot; sorry, my bad.)

from his passport....

Pierre helped as the Belgium Consulate General in NY with getting aid to Europe during World War 1.

He is on the far right in this image....

So then how did Pierre get a road in central NJ with his last name on it?

Well, Pierre married Frances "Fanny" Johnston May 1, 1892.

They were married at the family home in NYC

Well, "Fanny", as she was known, her dad was John Taylor Johnston (JTJ). He was the First President of the Met Museum but that was more of "side hustle"... his "day job" was being the President of the Central Railroad of NJ. He connected "the road" as they called it, from PA, through Somerville, to Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City. He also made improvements, like elevating the tracks in Plainfield and moved the train station at Scotch Plains to a new a station called... can you guess where from these 1860 articles?

Gosh, if I owned a railroad, I might name a new station after a family member.... hmm.....

JTJ also owned a large summer estate and farm in NJ called, the Netherwood Estate, but often was referred to as the Johnston Estate. When he died, he passed the Estate down to Frances and because she was married to Pierre the Estate was then known as... The Mali Estate. You can read more about it here.

Pierre passed away 101 years ago, 4 October, 1923... here are some neat obit details written about him.

Pierre and Frances now "reside" near Woodland Ave you can see their large boulder monument from the road but it easier to just stop in and say hi at Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains.

Frances Mali passed away December 7, 1928 so I'll put something up then about her later in the year. The Mali heirs continued to live in Manhattan and in 1936 they sold the Estate to be developed into what is today our neighborhood, as well as the Watchung Square Mall, all the way up to Johnston Drive in Watchung. But thanks to Pierre's last name, we have a unique name for a rounded road...

... you might say, after viewing this 1956 photo, that we've come "full circle".