Maidstone
Maidstone was established in 1858. It was given the name after the town of Maidstone in Kent, which is close to Footscray, named after Foots Cray, another town formerly in Kent.
Maidstone Post Office opened on 1 October 1858 and closed in 1986.
Maidstone was predominantly made up of period weatherboard, brick Art Deco and Californian Bungalow houses constructed between the 1920s and 1940s. Concrete houses built in the late 1940s to house the families of returned servicemen from World War II are also found. From the early 1990s many old factory sites in Maidstone have been turned into new housing estates comprising hundreds of houses and townhouses. Maidstone's recent development boost, good public transport availability and close proximity to the CBD has also seen the median house price escalate dramatically over the past 10 years.
Transport
Tram route 57 tram provides public transport from Flinders Street Station in the city to Cordite Avenue, West Maribyrnong, on the border of Maidstone, while tram route 82 tram provides public transport from Moonee Ponds (Ascot Vale Road / Puckle Street) to Footscray (Leeds Street / Irving Street) passing through Maidstone for a segment of its journey. It is one of very few Melbourne tram routes which do not travel through the Melbourne CBD.
West Footscray and Tottenham train stations are the closest to Maidstone but many residents catch the bus to Footscray station.
A number of different bus routes pass through Maidstone.
The Maribyrnong River Trail connects cyclists to the Footscray Road off-road path and into Docklands and the Melbourne CBD.
The Maidstone or Al Noor Mosque is here.
