Malinta

How Malinta began

Malinta was platted by John Bensing in September 1880 on the newly built narrow-gauge 'Clover Leaf' railroad in Monroe Township, and grew within a decade into that township's principal village, with dry goods and hardware stores, a saw mill, a stave factory, and Lutheran and United Brethren churches. Like much of southeastern Henry County, the site had been part of the county's 'Big Woods,' cleared and settled late and only once the railroad made drainage and shipping practical.

Platted September 21, 1880, by John Bensing, by John Bensing, with additions by L. and L. Horn.

Where the name comes from

Wikipedia says Malinta was named for Elizabeth Malinta Bensing, daughter of a first settler; it notes that Overman's Ohio Town Names (1958) gives the name as Malinda Elizabeth Bensing. The 1888 county history, which says John Bensing platted the village, does not explain the name.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, trail or treaty site specific to the Malinta town site is documented; the village was platted in 1880, roughly four decades after the last documented Native residents left Henry County, in an area the 1888 county history describes only as part of the 'Big Woods' cleared during the railroad era.

Timeline

1. 1880-09-21 — John Bensing records the first plat of Malinta, twenty lots on the north side of the newly built narrow-gauge railroad.
2. 1880 — A post office opens at Malinta, the year the village was platted.
3. 1881-04 — Bensing records his first addition to the village, twenty-six lots south of the railroad.
4. 1881-05-28 — L. and L. Horn add a further addition of four and a half acres on both sides of the railroad.
5. 1887 — By this date Malinta has a population of 400 to 450, four general stores, two hardware stores, a saw mill, a stave factory, a tile and brick factory, and Lutheran and United Brethren churches.
6. 1887 — The county historian predicts Malinta will 'doubtless, before many years, rank among the foremost villages in the county,' citing its thrifty population and rapid early growth.
7. 1887 — The Toledo, Delphos and Burlington narrow-gauge railroad, on which Malinta sits, is widened to standard gauge and becomes known as the Clover Leaf route.
8. by 1888 — Dr. E. B. Mauk practices medicine at Malinta, among the physicians listed in the county history.
9. 1900 — The first census count of Malinta is 357 people.
10. 1950 — Malinta's population falls to 308, its lowest census count of the twentieth century.
11. 1970 — Malinta reaches its census peak of 391 residents.
12. 1990 — Malinta's census count drops to 294.
13. 2020 — The census counts 236 people in Malinta.

Stories

The principal village of the 'Big Woods'

Monroe Township, where Malinta sits, had been part of Henry County's 'Big Woods' well into the nineteenth century, ground so thinly settled that its 1850 organization found only seven taxpayers on its books. Malinta itself did not exist until John Bensing platted twenty lots along the new narrow-gauge 'Clover Leaf' railroad in September 1880; within a year he and the Horn family had added enough further lots to more than double the town's footprint. The county historian, writing just seven years after that first plat, could already call Malinta 'the principal village in the township,' with a population approaching 450, its own picture gallery and blacksmith shops alongside four general stores and two churches -- growth he judged fast enough that the village would 'doubtless, before many years, rank among the foremost villages in the county.'

From narrow gauge to Clover Leaf

Monroe Township was, in the county historian's phrase, a stunted child until the Toledo, Delphos and Burlington Railroad came through, entering at the northeast corner of section one and leaving at the west line of section thirty-one. John Bensing laid out Malinta beside it on September 21, 1880, with twenty lots north of the track and depot grounds to the south. A first addition of twenty-six lots followed in April 1881, and L. and L. Horn added more that May. By 1887 the road had been rebuilt to standard gauge and renamed the Clover Leaf route, and Malinta had four general stores, two hardware stores, a saw-mill, a stave factory, a tile and brick works, and Lutheran and United Brethren churches.

Photographs

Local history sources: archive.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · postalhistory.com

Mostly private wells The water here

• Malinta Village100% of residentsMaumee River (with Wauseon reservoirs as backup/blend storage)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-17: official county or city website.

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2026-05-05; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-09-23

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Malinta, Henry County and its school district:

• Henry County: Authorizes an additional 2.5-mill property tax levy for the community developmental disabilities programs & HOPE services of Henry County for 5 years, beginning in 2026.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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