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La Motte, Iowa

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Prairie Springs Township. It lies in ZIP code area 52054. The Survey maps it on the La Motte quadrangle. 237 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 925 feet above sea level.

La Motte within Jackson County

On record in La Motte

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register within a mile 2 records

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Population over time

2 figures

La Motte fell from 260 to 237 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010260
2020237-23 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 19 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

21 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of La Motte between 2009 and 2018, burning about 257 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning13
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 June 2012Debris and open burning4.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
18 June 2012Debris and open burning15 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2015Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined6.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
27 April 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined35 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 April 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 April 2018Debris and open burning1.0 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 April 2018Debris and open burning12 acresIowa Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jackson County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of La Motte: 6 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Zinc, Lead, Zinc, Cadmium, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Graham Mill-ConcentratorZinc, Cadmium, LeadPast Producer
Zwingle Mines and OccurrencesZinc, LeadPast ProducerGalena, Sphalerite
ArnsdorfStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Beckley QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Koos QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
La Motte QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
UnknownStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Jackson County

Storms near this place

10 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names La Motte in 10 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2009Flash FloodLa Motte$250,000Heavy rains resulted in some flash flooding in and around Bellevue, IA during the evening hours of July 27 and early morning hours of July 28. The flood waters were flowing over Highway 52 near Pleasant Creek, where the water was 5 feet deep for a time. In addition, four cars stalled out in waist-deep flood waters near Second Avenue and Park Street in Bellevue, IA around 945 pm. Several Bellevue residence sustained flooded basements. Mill Creek Road experienced significant flash flooding which washed trees, mud, and other debris onto the road and eroded portions of the road. Several area roads were closed for a time. A berm was breached at 31766 Mill Creek Road flooding the residence in through the windows. Annie's Acres, a strawberry patch, was flooded with machinery washed into a nearby cornfield. Several fences were washed out and fields were flattened by the flood waters. Law enforcement officials and newspaper media also contributed to this report.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindLa Motte$100,000Strong thunderstorm winds destroyed a dairy barn and ripped the roof off another barn in Northeastern Jackson county. One home was destroyed as strong winds drove barn beams through the walls, shattered glass and spread dirt and debris inside the home.
April 2010Thunderstorm WindLa Motte$35,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph ripped the roof off of a machine shed and blew a post through the side of a mobile home just east of the Dubuque-Jackson county line on 230th Avenue or about 3 miles north of La Motte, IA at 1107 pm April 5.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindLa Motte$15,000Wind gusts estimated to be 65 mph blew down 5 utility poles along 230th Avenue just north of La Motte, IA around 6:10 am June 5 resulting in a power outage.
August 1994HailLa Motte$5,000no account filed
August 1994HailLa Motte$5,000no account filed
July 2025Tornado (EF2)La Motte-Evidence of a multiple vortex tornado EF-2 tornado occurred across northern Jackson County. The tornado started north of La Motte where it damaged the roof of an agriculture industry building. As it tracked east the tornado did damage to trees until halfway through its 2.6 mile path where the most intense damage was found. A large farm building lost it's entire roof, along with half of it's walls. Roof sheet metal was found north, south and east of the structure. Insulation from the roof was found on the north, south and east side of the remaining walls. A metal power pole was bent along with a few other wooden poles snap. All this damage supported an EF-2 tornado. As the tornado moved east it destroyed two more farm buildings, numerous trees and the roof of a house.
September 2019Thunderstorm WindLa Motte-A grain bin collapsed and multiple trees were blown down.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindLa Motte-Winds estimated to be 60 mph blew down some tree limbs near La Motte, IA. Delayed report.
April 2013HailLa Motte-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jackson County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Cottonville4.2 miles17
Otter Creek5.0 miles17
Saint Donatus6.2 miles19
Andrew9.9 miles17
North Bellevue10.0 miles18
Smiths10.2 miles18
Fulton10.3 miles17
Bellevue10.8 miles18

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on La MotteAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1930181The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 458155. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.