BlockBefore

Malta, Illinois

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1934 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Malta Township. It lies in ZIP code area 60150. The Survey maps it on the DeKalb quadrangle. 1,143 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 909 feet above sea level.

Malta within DeKalb County

Population over time

2 figures

Malta fell from 1,164 to 1,143 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,164
20201,143-21 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

6,067 words on this township

Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885 names this settlement in its chapter on Malta Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

ALTA Township is bounded on the north by South Grove, on the east by De Kalb, on the south by Milan and on the west by Ogle County. The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad enters the township on section 24, and running almost due west enters Ogle County from section 19. There is no natural timber in the township, and it was not therefore settled until a late day, the first settlement being made in i8sr by Ezekiel Whitehead. But little of the land had been taken up at the time, but was soon afterwards entered by various persons more for speculative purposes than with a design of making for

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885.

Previous to 1856 the township had been a part of De Kalb. At this time there was a sufficient population to entitle it to a separate government, and the Board of Supervisors accordingly organized it under the name of Milton. When organized it embraced the north half of the present township of Milan. Subsequently its name was changed to Etna, and soon after to Malta, the name of the village that had sprung up on the line of the railroad.

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885.

The schools in the township are in good condition. From, the County Superintendent's report for the year ending June 30, 1884, the following facts are gleaned: There were in the township eight school districts, each having a good frame school-house, the total value of which was estimated at $10,700. One of the districts had a graded school, the remainder being ungraded. There were 496 persons under 21, of whom 364 were over six. Of this number 303 were enrolled in the public schools. During the year 15 teachers had been employed, receiving an average of $34.43 per month, - the highest being $66.67 and the lowest $25. The tax. levy for school purposes was $33.88.

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County : Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States : Also Containing a History of the County, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, published 1885.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Malta Township - it names this place 10 more 10 times.

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Malta: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Elmhurst-Mccarthy JointLimestone, GeneralPast Producer

Every working recorded in DeKalb County

Storms near this place

17 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Malta in 17 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 11 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2014Thunderstorm WindMalta$500,000An approximately seven mile swath of damage occurred on the south side of Dekalb which was consistent with 60 mph to occasionally 100 mph winds. Damage began near the intersection of Malta Road and Nelson Road and concluded near Lynch Road just south of Gurler Road. A warehouse on Harvestore Drive had a portion of the roof torn off along with a broken window. Some mobile homes in the parking lot were rolled or overturned.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindMalta$25,000A barn was destroyed.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindMalta$10,000A semi truck was blown over near mile marker 86 on Interstate 88.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindMalta$1,000A power pole snapped and a pole barn received roof damage near Nelson Road and Malta Road.
August 2025Flash FloodMalta-A report of flooding was received from northeast of Creston via mPing.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindMalta-Scattered tree limbs were blown down near Rich Road.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindMalta-Utility poles were leaning over and power lines were blown down in Malta.
November 2020Thunderstorm WindMalta-A utility pole was damaged and hanging over a roadway.
January 2018HailMalta-Hail was mostly pea size with some larger penny size hail stones.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindMalta-Wind gusts were estimated to 60 mph near Interstate 88 and University Road.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindMalta-Wind gusts estimated to 60 mph.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindMalta-Strong thunderstorm winds downed trees, ripped barn roof off, and blew over a fuel storage tank. Nickel size hail also reported.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindMalta-County sheriff reported trees down in Malta due to thunderstorm winds.
May 2014HailMalta-no account filed
May 2004HailMalta-no account filed
June 1996Tornado (F0)Malta-no account filed
April 1996HailMalta-no account filed

Every storm recorded in DeKalb County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
DeKalb5.9 miles10
Clare6.2 miles13
Elva6.4 miles10
Wilkinson6.7 miles13
Afton Center7.2 miles10
Five Points8.1 miles13
Esmond8.2 miles14
McGirr8.3 miles10

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on MaltaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2672411The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 421923. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.