Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 95 buildings. Below: 18 old photos and papers and maps from 1909 on.
The Malden post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Kanawha Saline (1814), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Malden’s history is told.
Date?Malden Historic District
Date?Malden Historic District, 4401 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4304 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4003 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4208 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4205 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4502 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4004 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4001 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4006 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4012 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4102 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4112 Malden Drive (Store)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4306 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4402 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4412 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4414 Malden Drive (House)
Date?Malden Historic District, 4309 Malden Drive (House)From Wikipedia’s history of Malden.
The Kanawha Saline(s) post office was established in 1814 and discontinued in 1879. The community changed its name to Malden, establishing Malden PO in 1879; it closed in 1961. This probably means that Malden became a Rural Branch of Charleston in 1961. The present name most likely is derived from Malden, Massachusetts.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereSamuel Edward Courtney is born here
BuiltAfrican Zion Baptist Church is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Malden. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Malden.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Malden’s page.
Retake this view · +15Malden had its own post office from 1879 to 1961. Another post office, Kanawha Saline, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Malden post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the African Zion Baptist Church (listed 1974) and the Malden Historic District (1980).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From the Library of Congress (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
