The first land claim near what became Maltby was made in 1887 by a man named Judson Lee. A work camp and train stop was then built that was named "Earl". A few months after the completion of the train station, George Dunlap claimed land that was later platted as a town.
A "Yew" post office was opened in 1889 by an Ole H. Lee and the train station was briefly renamed "Yew Station". There is some supposition this is because there already was an "Earl" post office in Eastern Washington. Mr. Lee is connected with most of the early infrastructure in the area - post office, roads, school, etc. He's one of the few early residents who stayed in the area.
The town of Yew was finally platted in 1891 and Robert Maltby aquired a homestead which he was then dividing into parcels and attempting to sell as a start to his real estate career. When the name "Yew" proved a bit of an unpopular place to get off the train, the name of the station was changed to Maltby by Robert Maltby (rather unofficially, but it stuck).
The Yew post office was renamed to Maltby in 1893. The railroad officially changed the name of the stop to Maltby and put the name on the depot shortly after but the town was actually never officially renamed from Yew - but became known as Maltby to everyone.
The original railroad line through Maltby went from Woodinville to Sumas and was just called the West Coast Railway, part of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern. Later it became the Seattle International Railway when the original railroad went bankrupt. The Northern Pacific finally obtained this section and called it the Sumas branch.
Yew is no longer a town but Maltby is now considered a Census-Designated Place (CDP) in Snohomish County, Washington. It's part of unincorporated Snohomish County and comprises about 16.8 square miles. As of the 2000 census, there were 2,824 households and 8,267 people residing in Maltby.
