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B+History
History · Malta

Malta’s post office opened in 1890, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Phillips County Carnegie Library, the Edwards & McLellan Block and the Milk River Bridge. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
3on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Malta began

When was Malta founded?

1890

The Malta post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 433 in 19102020 census: 1,860136 years

How historic is Malta?

B+

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Malta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).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 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Malta’s overall grade.
Founding era1890, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194024.2% of homes (±10.9) · typical MT town 13.1% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register3 listings, 14.3 per 10,000 residents · typical MT town 12.7 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 66%
NewerOlder

Montana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Montana town has 12.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Malta’s 14.3 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Malta’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Malta’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFig 18 Stream diversions east of Malta …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Malta came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Malta.

Read it all →

After James Hill and his partners built the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba railway (which in 1890 became the Great Northern Railway) across Montana's "High Line" in 1887, Malta evolved from rail siding number 54. What came to be Saco, Montana, to the east and Dodson, Montana, to the west grew from other nearby sidings. A post office was established in Malta in 1890. Its name is said to have been determined by a spin of the globe by a Great Northern official whose finger came to rest on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

On July 3, 1901, Kid Curry (Harvey Logan), as part of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, robbed a train just west of Malta, near Wagner, Montana, making off with about $40,000.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Malta, 1890 to 1976

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Malta post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1917BuiltPhillips County Carnegie Library is built
  5. 1932In the archiveFig 18 Stream diversions east of Malta Mont
  6. 1946Born hereKarl Ohs is born here
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1976Born hereWendy Warburton is born here
By decade

Malta, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
Fig 18 Stream diversions east of Malta Mont1932Fig 18 Stream diversions east of Malta Mont
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
20210717-APHIS-LSC-0404202120210717-APHIS-LSC-0404WBI Energy Gas Pipeline - Montana2016WBI Energy Gas Pipeline - MontanaLake Bowdoin Birds, Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge, Montana2016Lake Bowdoin Birds, Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge,…US2 merges with US191 in2013US2 merges with US191 inPhillips County Courthouse2013Phillips County CourthousePhillips County Carnegie Library (2013) - Phillips County, Montana2013Phillips County Carnegie Library (2013) - Phillips Co…Malta Montana downtown2013Malta Montana downtownGreat Plains Dinosaur Museum in2013Great Plains Dinosaur Museum inWildlife372011Wildlife37Urban202011Urban20MTMap-doton-Malta2005MTMap-doton-Malta
On the map

Malta on the map, 1954 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Malta. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Malta on the 1954 USGS mapMalta on the 1984 USGS map1954Glasgow sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Malta.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Fig 18 Stream diversions east of Malta Mont
Retake this viewFig 18 Stream diversions east of Malta Mont, 1932

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Malta’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Malta

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Phillips County Carnegie Library
Phillips County Carnegie Library, built 1917Edwards & McLellan BlockMilk River Bridge
BuildingsStructures
Phillips County Carnegie LibraryBuilt 1917
All 3 listings
Edwards & McLellan BlockBuilding · listed 2022Milk River BridgeStructure · listed 2025

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Malta, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,367

Between 433 and 2,367 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Malta’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Malta

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
K
Karl OhsAmerican politician · b. 1946
W
Wendy WarburtonAmerican politician in Montana · b. 1976
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Malta’s post office has been open since 1890.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Murray Trailer ParkRiverside Trailer Court
Gone or out of use
Olive Lutheran Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Malta
Phillips County

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?

The Malta post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Malta rank for history?

Malta is more historic than 66% 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.

What is on the National Register in Malta?

Three places: the Phillips County Carnegie Library (listed 1980), the Edwards & McLellan Block (2022) and the Milk River Bridge (2025).

How old are the homes in Malta?

24% of Malta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.9 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1967.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.