Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1857.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Malta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Malta is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Malta’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Malta’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (28% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.3 points). Two sources give 1854.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Malta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Malta was founded in 1855, under the name of Milton. Shortly afterwards, the name was changed to Etna, then Malta after the Galena (a Maltese Surname) Railway station that served the village. The present name is after the island of Malta.
Malta was the site of the first "seedling mile" of concrete pavement for the transcontinental Lincoln Highway in 1914. Seedling miles were built to demonstrate construction techniques and generate support for the highway. The pavement extended from the Malta cemetery at the west edge of town to near the present location of Kishwaukee College.
(The following sketch should have appeared in the History of Malta :) Among those from Malta who gave their lives in defence of their country, was Orderly Sergeant Edward Bridge, an intelligent, exemplary and patriotic young soldier of Company B, Fifty-fifth Illinois.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of DeKalb County, Illinois1868 · page 419Read the page →
Read the text
The town of DeKalb at this time embraced within its borders the present town of Malta, and a part of Afton. 1856. This year may be marked with a white stone in the annals of our County. It was one of extraordinary prosperity and remarkable increase of population. The new comers now became fully satisfied that farms could be advantageously occupied and worked upon the broad prairie at great distances
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Malta, 1854 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Malta’s post office has been open since 1857. Another post office, Malma, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Malta
1857–today
Malma
1860–1872
18501940today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Malta’s history
What year was Malta founded?
In 1854, according to Wikidata. Malta’s post office opened in 1857.
How does Malta rank for history?
Malta is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Malta?
21% of Malta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1966.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
