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 opening of the Little Rock & Hot Springs Western Railroad in April 1900 provided a more direct access to Hot Springs from Little Rock and the north, and both the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf and the Iron Mountain took advantage of this route, effectively cutting the volume of interchange traffic into Malvern.

[8] The Malvern Police Department lost Carson Smith, the deputy, and three officers in the line of duty, all shot to death during the 1930s.

[11] Davis and Leslie Lee Potts were both shot during a domestic dispute on April 21, 1933, a shootout in which they killed the suspect.

[citation needed] During World War II, hundreds of Malvernites moved to the Los Angeles area to take advantage of work in the shipyards—apparently spurred by a couple of residents who found work there and wrote home boasting of 88-cent/hour jobs, which was a decent wage for the time.

Arkansas Highway 9 (Main Street) leads south from the center of Malvern 64 miles (103 km) to Camden.

[13] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,021 people, 3,769 households, and 2,431 families residing in the city,[19] and its population density was 1,227.1 inhabitants per square mile (473.8/km2).

[20] History in Malvern can be found throughout the central city, including ten National Register of Historic Places listings.

The Hot Spring County Museum is located in the Boyle House at 302 East Third Street in Malvern.

[23] Malvern hosts one of two whitewater parks in the state of Arkansas, located on the Ouachita River.

Used for training Olympic kayakers and river rescue teams, the river-wide ledge runs year-round, and is dam-released.