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History · Motley

Motley’s post office opened in 1873, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Almond A. White House. Its Register listing is the Almond A. White House.

1873first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Motley began

When was Motley founded?

1873

The Motley post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 680153 years
Founding year: the first Motley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Motley’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Motley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Motley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Motley’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

How Motley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Motley.

Read it all →

Motley was laid out in 1874. A post office has been in operation at Motley since 1873.

In 1881, the Northern Pacific Railway built a 20-by-40-foot (6.1 by 12.2 m) passenger station on the east side of 2nd Street (between Front Street and Main Street) and a 24-by-60-foot (7.3 by 18.3 m) freight depot on the west side of 2nd Street. A spur line ran south from the mainline along 4th Avenue to a planing mill on the bank of the Long Prairie River (just south of Cemetery Road). The spur line was removed by 1920.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Motley, 1873 to 1902

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Motley post office opens
  3. 1877Born hereHarry A. Bridgeman, Sr. is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902BuiltAlmond A. White House is built
By decade

Motley, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Post Office2024Post OfficeHwy 10 at Beaulieu Street, looking south2024Hwy 10 at Beaulieu Street, looking southFire Department2024Fire DepartmentCatholic Church of St. Michael2024Catholic Church of St. MichaelSt. Michael's Catholic Church2018St. Michael's Catholic Church
On the National Register

1 historic place in Motley

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
Almond A. White House
Almond A. White House, built 1902
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Almond A. White HouseQueen Anne · Built 1902

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Motley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMay TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVillard TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Motley’s history

What year was Motley founded?

The Motley post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Motley?

One place: the Almond A. White House (listed 1986).

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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.