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How young Malden entrepreneur Alvan T. Fuller (may have) launched Presidents’ Day car sales

By Peter DeMarco

 |  Globe Correspondent  

  February 16, 2012

The annual hoopla for Presidents’ Day car sales will soon be in full swing. But just when did the holiday become synonymous with auto-selling extravaganzas? The idea, according to many, was the brainchild of Malden native Alvan T. Fuller. Fuller is perhaps best remembered for his tenure as Massachusetts’ 52d governor. But long before his career in politics, Fuller was just an enterprising teenager selling bicycles out of a backyard barn on Cross Street in Malden.

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