Saline County Historical Society Newsletter Vol 1, Issue 1, Spring 2026

A Message From the President

I welcome all to the Saline County Historical Society. We are hoping to enhance our transparency with our members and the general public through the printing of a quarterly newsletter. This is our first attempt and hope you like the contents. Please give us your feedback. Our ribbon cutting for the Saline County Historical Society Museum was March 31, 2026 at 4pm. After the ribbon cutting the museum was open for a sneak peek. This is a soft opening for us as work is continuously being done. We will announce our “regular” open hours very soon. We welcome your participation and attendance at our museum. I hope you enjoy this 2026 edition #1 of our Saline County Historical Society Newsletter. - Jack Harvey ###

Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Jack Harvey, President

Mary Bays, Vice President

Donna Bailey, Secretary

Stephanie Mullins, Treasurer

Directors:

Kathy Green

Charles Guthrey

Sam Moten

Hailey Poindexter

Connie Reagles

Cindi Sims

Our New Website

We are very proud of our new website. This endeavor is an ongoing project to keep our community informed of our exciting adventures at the Saline County Historical Society. Our web address is https://www.schsmo.org 

Currently our site includes information about our Board of Directors, events, lecture series, news, blog entries, and so much more. In the near future we will also include genealogy research links, and searchable databases of parts of our museum collections that are digitized for online viewing. We also hope to be able to live stream and offer our lecture series and events for public viewing through our website as well. We encourage your input on what other information you’d like presented. Also, check us out on social media by searching us on Facebook & Instagram. ###

Ribbon Cutting 3.31.26

We are thrilled to announce our ribbon cutting event was held on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 from 4pm to 6pm. The Marshall Chamber of Commerce helped welcome us to the Northeast corner of the Marshall Square at 30 N. Jefferson. After that the public was invited for a sneak peek at our current standing as we continue to add to our permanent and temporary exhibits. ###

Accessioning Our Assets

How does a museum go about cataloging their collection? This process is known as “accessioning.” Each item was detailed with as much information as we had. Some items have been in our collection for decades, but we uncovered many notes from the donor or past museum board members. 

It is one of the principles of SCHS that each item has a direct correlation to Saline County. Sometimes that connection is obvious and sometimes it’s more discreet, only known by information on who owned the object or for what it was used. 

We then compile a three part accession system that is recommended by the Smithsonian museums. Step one is to hand write an accession form with the contact information from the donor. Each item is detailed and a number is provided for it. The number is a fun (approx.) 6 digit code. The first two numbers are the last two numbers of the year of donation. This year would be 26. The second two numbers are the number of the donation for that specific year. Currently we have 57 different groups of donations (per donor) in the year 2026. Therefore, our next entry will be 26-58 and the last two digits will be the number of the item in that donation. The next item that comes in is 26-58-01, etc.

Next we re-log all of that data into a slightly more streamlined list of the item numbers, date of donation, and a more brief description of each item. That log is stored separately from the main accession books for safe record keeping and posterity. 

Lastly, we log every single item a third time, digitally through a program called Past Perfect Software. We can add photos of the items, and this program has a consumer facing software that will eventually allow you to sort through the digital photos of the items for personal research. ###

A Message From the Consultant

If you’ve seen a “stranger” hanging out on the northeast corner of the Marshall Square, please don’t worry, I’m here to help! I’d like to introduce myself, my name is Dustin Rennells and I’m the Curator/ Executive Director at the Grand River Historical Society & Museum in Chillicothe, Missouri. I’m so proud to have been hired as a museum consultant for the Saline County Historical Society through a fantastic grant on behalf of the Missouri Humanities Council. This grant was written to finish the momentum created by nearly a century of historical work and collecting by the board of the SCHS. The grant provided for a consultant to get the exhibits set up and to provide a variety of expertise in the daily operations of museum life. So far this consultant has worked 835.75 hours and driven 4,692 miles and I’m proud of our progress, but there is still so much more to do!

Setting up a museum from scratch is a daunting project to say the least. Please see adjacent photos of the progress we have made. I was hired in May of 2025 with a grant completion date of December 31, 2025. Hundreds of boxes of local artifacts had been safely stored in our building at 30 N. Jefferson, we refer to it as the Buckner Building, but I know you all know it by many other names: Woolworth’s, Gambles, Silverthorn’s, etc. We opened every single box and sorted through every single scrap of paper or physical item that we encountered. 

(See the Accession Article to the left).

This part of the project, ideally, will never be complete, and that’s okay. We want more items to keep coming into the museum to represent all corners of Saline County. And many of our small items on paper, which we refer to as “ephemera” or memories captured on paper, will take years to fully capture through our accession process. For example if a family provides a photo album, and it has 200 photos, of which 50 photos have some names written on the back and 150 photos with no information, but the family can’t name them at the time of donation, we may never know who is featured in that photo. Same for various news articles and hand-written notes. Those are some of the more exciting donations we receive as they hold fascinating information, but the details are often to be researched. Are you a person that loves poring over history? We can use some volunteers! Contact a board member to learn more or email info@schsmo.org ###

Are We Taking Donations?

Yes, absolutely. We are especially looking for items from these categories: Slater rail system, Sweet Springs spa/resort, Native American History, the Santa Fe Trail, Military (specifically the Civil Ware), Churches, Early Agriculture, and Early Settlers of Saline County including towns that are no longer inhabited. ###

Town Talk | Malta Bend, MO

Compiled by Kathy Green

History

Malta Bend, MO, is located on West US Highway 65, half a mile South of the Missouri River.  It was established in 1867. This community's name was taken from the steamboat Malta, which sank while navigating a bend in the Missouri River.

How Did We Get Here?

Two families gave land on which Malta Bend would be built: the Brown Family, who moved from Virginia in 1831, and the Isaac Lunbeck Family, who moved from Ohio in 1849. The first petition to incorporate Malta Bend was never filed until January 1869. But, for some reason that no one knows, another petition to incorporate was filed on April 6, 1888. In September 1900, a third petition was filed, but this time the reason was that the town's name was misspelled. Then, on August 2, 1956, an ordinance was passed to make Malta Bend a Fourth-Class City. A vote of the citizens ratified this ordinance, 128 to 38.

Commerce

A post office was established on September 30, 1860, seven years before Malta Bend was planned. The first postmaster was Joseph Boone, who served until October 11, 1861, when the unrest of the Civil War intervened. The post office reopened on May 17, 1866, with James Needles as the new postmaster. Some early settlers' names included A. J. McRoberts, Joseph and Charles Pittman, and William and George Nye. Other names, such as Renick, Huston, Wilson, Clyde, and Gauldin, are associated with Malta Bend and its future.

Railway

The railroad came to Malta Bend in 1886 when the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company built a railroad from Jefferson City to connect to Lexington's existing railroad, which ran to Kansas City.  This was called the "River Route”. The first station was built in 1887.  In the life of the rail station, there were only four regular station agents. The first agent was R. S. Thomas, then Harry England, and Henry W. Begeman. The last agent was Rex Sloan. The Station is no longer manned.  The railroad brought fame to Malta Bend when the TV show “Wide, Wide World” broadcast a 90-minute segment titled “Flag stop at Malta Bend”. The feature on the show was Agent Rex Sloan and his son Todd. It is estimated that thirty-six million people watched this show.

At Its Height

Malta Bend was a bustling town in its heyday. It boosted twenty-one stores selling dry goods, furniture, groceries, and hardware. There were two livery stables, two undertaking establishments, two lumber yards, two blacksmiths, an ice plant, a bank, a produce plant, two implement establishments, two drug stores, and two grain elevators.  Yes, in its heyday, Malta Bend was well established and booming.

More

A much more detailed history of Malta Bend can be found in the 1967 Edition of Saline County History book. Other points of interest near Malta Bend. The Henry Blosser House and Plattner Archeological Site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ###

Second Saturday Lecture Series

Each month, on the second Saturday of that month, we offer an informative lecture series on topics relevant to our entire community. If you love history, and hearing about unique topics with a local slant, please come join us.

January featured an in depth, behind-the-scenes look at how we are building our museum, February was an exciting talk by Bonita Butner on Cambridge, MO and its connection to local African American History. The full list for 2026 is featured above. These lectures are free and open to the public. ###

Upcoming Events