Named after Malvern Hill in Virginia, Malvern was established in 1870 by the Cairo and Fulton Railroad as a city site 21 miles southeast of Hot Springs. Rockport, today a small city north of Malvern, was the original county seat but in 1878, because of its proximity to the railroad, Malvern became the county seat and remains so today. Founded as a railroad stop at the eastern edge of the Ouachita Mountains, the community’s history and economy have been tied to available agricultural and mineral resources. The production of bricks from locally available clay has earned the city the nickname, “The Brick Capital of the World”