Malta, first known as “Siding 54,” emerged along the Hi-Line in 1887 as the Great Northern Railway opened new opportunities, and by 1910 the heavily promoted town had become the county seat. Longtime residents Lee Edwards and William McLellan partnered to build a commercial block to serve northeastern Montana, using local architect James Maurice Montgomery’s Western Commercial style design with retail space, ten second-story offices, and basement plumbing and tin shops. The brick building featured forty-three feet of plate glass display windows, Chicago style windows on the upper level, and decorative flat arches, second-story pilasters, recessed panels, and a metal cornice. Inside, golden oak Mission style shelving held hardware stock on one side while clothing and furnished goods filled Flemish oak wardrobes and cabinets on the other. When the store opened in 1910, Edwards and McLellan handed out long-stemmed asters and gold-lettered brush-shaped souvenirs. Over the decades, its massive inventory ranged from Studebaker cars to Frigidaire refrigerators and RCA Victor televisions, and the business became a community hub as well as a mercantile. McLellan’s wife, Nettie, was part-owner from 1916 to 1937, Edwards family member Harold Leib ran the store until 1975, and Scott and Gina Simanton purchased the building in 2020 and operated the upper level as lodging while restoring the Hi-Line landmark.