When Pinnacol moved into it's Lowry headquarters the company commissioned several artists to produce art work reflective of our state and the wide variety of work done in Colorado. One of the pieces is a painting by
J. Wolford that showcases the Malta Schoolhouse. For anyone who has been on Highway 24 just south of Leadville you've probably noticed the red schoolhouse just off the road. The town of Malta doesn't really exist any longer but back in the 1870's it was a bustling town hosting smelters, two hotels, fifty homes, a post office, several saloons and even a racetrack for horses. The smelters were only marginally successful and as larger and more modern smelters were built just up the road in Leadville Malta simply could not compete. By 1884, Malta was little more than a junction for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.
The current Malta Schoolhouse was built in 1902 after the original schoolhouse, which had been moved to the property from across Highway 24, burned down. The “second” Malta School operated from 1902 to 1945. The schoolhouse originally had a barn for students’ horses and mules and the schoolhouse is now owned by the Leadville School District. The Malta Schoolhouse apparently was originally painted white with green trim but was repainted to its current red in the 1950s by the Leadville Lions Club who had volunteered to restore it. More recently, just this summer in fact, the
schoolhouse received another facelift thanks to a partnership between the High Mountain Institute and the Lake County School District. Every time I see the painting it reminds me of the magic of the Colorado high country and every time I see the actual schoolhouse it reminds me of the painting that mirrors it back at work. Its also a reflection, and constant reminder, of all the communities, employers, and workers we work so hard to support.
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| Malta Schoolhouse painting |
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| Malta Schoolhouse after its recent facelift |
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