Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lamotte Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Lamotte Township

Lamotte Township’s post office opened in 1870, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1963 on.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Lamotte Township began

When was Lamotte Township founded?

1870

The Lamotte Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Newmann (1860), Newman (1866) and Lamotte (1870), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 764156 years
Founding year: the first Lamotte Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lamotte Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lamotte Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lamotte Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Newmann
1860–1864
Newman
1866–1870
Lamotte
1870–1906
Germania
1878–1911
Decker
1899–today
Hemans
1916–1933
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DeckerHemans
Gone or out of use
Germania Post Officepost officeHemans Post Officepost officeInnes Acres AirportairportLamotte Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lamotte Township
JohnsonMoshier

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Lamotte Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lamotte Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Lamotte Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lamotte Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1870. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 919 to 764 (-17%).

Timeline

Lamotte Township, 1860 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1860Post officeThe Newmann post office opens
  3. 1864Post officeThe Newmann post office closes
  4. 1866Post officeThe Newman post office opens
  5. 1870Post officeThe Newman post office closes
  6. 1870Post officeThe Lamotte post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1906Post officeThe Lamotte post office closes
  9. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Lamotte Township on the map, 1963 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lamotte Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Lamotte Township on the 1963 USGS mapLamotte Township on the 1984 USGS mapLamotte Township on the 1990 USGS map1963Decker sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lamotte Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Moore TownshipIts storyB−Kingston TownshipIts storyB−Marlette TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEvergreen TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lamotte Township’s history

What year was Lamotte Township founded?

The Lamotte Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.