[4]: 10 As one of the first extensively settled agricultural areas in Montana, organized schools were established in Gallatin County soon after its settlement in the late 1860s.

Due to a lack of roads and fast transportation, these schools were usually one-room schoolhouses and were often located within five miles of each other.

Surviving one-room schoolhouses in Gallatin County were deemed historically significant "on the basis of their historic association with the settlement of the small mining and agricultural communities in Gallatin County and because they demonstrate the architectural evolution of the one-room schoolhouse, embodying distinctive characteristics of a specific vernacular building type and method of construction.

"[4] Additionally, "the Malmborg School illustrates how the early variations of the schoolhouse design were a result of the needs, aspirations, and cultural background of the community which created it.

"[1] Thus, the school was inscribed onto the National Register of Historic Places based on Criterion A ("the property must make a contribution to the major pattern of American history") and Criterion B ("concerns the distinctive characteristics of the building by its architecture and construction, including having great artistic value or being the work of a master").