Virtually wiped out on April 19, 1938, by a flood resulting from the bursting of a dam on Loop Loop Creek, has been rebuilt into an attractive modern town. Its former dingy structures were carried away when the water swept through the main street. No lives were lost, and normal shipments of fruit and livestock were not interrupted. Sand drifts and other scattered evidences of the flood are still visible throughout the vicinity.

It became a post office in 1890 and was platted as a town site in 1909. It was named for pioneer settlers, Leonard C. and Mary Malott, who arrived in August, 1886. Mr. Malott served postmaster for twenty years.