Malden is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Kanawha County

Kanawha County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 200,073 people, 86,226 households, and 55,960 families residing in the county. The population density was 222 people per square mile . There were 93,788 housing units at an average density of 104 per square mile...

, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, within the Charleston metro area

Charleston, West Virginia

Charleston is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers in Kanawha County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 51,400, and its metropolitan area 304,214. It is the county seat of Kanawha County.Early...

. The ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 for Malden is 25306 and the area code is 304. Malden is set in the Eastern Standard Time Zone.

History

Malden is perhaps best known for the Kanawha Salines salt wells. Famous people from Malden include General Lewis Ruffner

Lewis Ruffner

Lewis Ruffner was a salt manufacturer from Malden in Kanawha County in the area near what is now Charleston, West Virginia. He was a community leader and a member of the Virginia General Assembly in the years before the American Civil War...

, his wife Viola Ruffner

Viola Ruffner

Viola Knapp Ruffner was a schoolteacher and became the second wife of General Lewis Ruffner, a salt and coal mine owner and community leader in Kanawha County, West Virginia. She played a role in the personal development of Booker T. Washington, who worked in their household as a teenager after...

, and Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...

.
Kanawha Saline(s) post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

 was established in 1814 and discontinued in 1879.

Malden is home to the West Virginia State University

West Virginia State University

West Virginia State University is a historically black public college in Institute, West Virginia, United States. In the Charleston-metro area, the school is usually referred to simply as "State" or "West Virginia State"...

 owned Booker T. Washington Park.

The African Zion Baptist Church

African Zion Baptist Church

African Zion Baptist Church is a historic Baptist church at 4104 Malden Drive in Malden, Kanawha County, West Virginia.It is a one-story frame structure built atop a stone foundation. It has a gable roof topped by a wooden bell tower...

 and Malden Historic District

Malden Historic District

Malden Historic District is a national historic district located at Malden, Kanawha County, West Virginia. The district includes 95 contributing buildings. It includes residential, commercial, ecclesiastical, and industrial buildings dated as early as the 1830s. Notable buildings include the...

 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.