We tend to expect that the internet has, by this point in time, fully catalogued every bit of information there is to know about every subject that could possibly exist. It’s a little weird and disorienting when researching to find a place that next to no information exists about, but such is the case with the Watertown Mall in Watertown, Massachusetts. There’s no Wikipedia entry, barely any photos, not much in the way of news articles aside from a brief mention of plans to demolish and redevelop it.

The little that I’m able to find indicates that the site was originally occupied by the Watertown Arsenal, which operated from 1816 to 1968. The site was considered highly contaminated and added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List, in part due to radioactive materials onsite. After its closure, the parcel was sold to the Watertown Redevelopment Authority, and around 1975 the Watertown Mall was built. It was no doubt overshadowed by the Arsenal Mall, which was built across the street in 1983, then redeveloped into the Arsenal Yards in 2017-2019.

Today, the Watertown Mall is a tiny little thing that feels like it is halfway between an interior mall and a strip mall anchored by big box stores. The few photos I found of it suggest that there may have been more interior space and larger entrances. Whether it was updated, when, and how much was changed is a mystery.

Currently, the Watertown Mall is anchored by a Target and a Best Buy, with a DMV and a handful of stores inside. There were more people than I expected, and they all seemed to be customers at Joyful Garden, a dim sum restaurant inside. As with most little malls that transition to stores with exterior entrances, the interior seems a bit of a forgotten anachronism, although Watertown Mall’s is clean and well-kept. Plans for demolishing it and constructing a research and development campus were approved in 2023, but it’s unclear when this process will take place. For now it remains a tiny, forgotten relic lost in the shadow of the larger outdoor mall nearby.