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.
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.
Harris Wagon and Carriage Shoplisted 1992 · 0.0 miles away
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Narrow Gauge Depot-LaMottelisted 1995 · 0.3 miles away
Population over time
2 figuresLa 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 260 | |
| 2020 | 237 | -23 (-9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 19 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1901 USGS Peosta quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
- 1935 USGS East Dubuque quadrangle1:62500
- 1940 USGS East Dubuque quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS La Motte quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Dubuque quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Dubuque South quadrangle1:100000, 4 printings
Fires near this place
21 since 2009Regional 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 burning | 13 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | 15 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 April 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 April 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 35 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 12 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graham Mill-Concentrator | Zinc, Cadmium, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Zwingle Mines and Occurrences | Zinc, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Sphalerite | |
| Arnsdorf | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Beckley Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Koos Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| La Motte Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 1994Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2009 | Flash Flood | La Motte | $250,000 | Heavy 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 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Motte | $100,000 | Strong 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 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Motte | $35,000 | Wind 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 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Motte | $15,000 | Wind 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 1994 | Hail | La Motte | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1994 | Hail | La Motte | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 2025 | Tornado (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 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Motte | - | A grain bin collapsed and multiple trees were blown down. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | La Motte | - | Winds estimated to be 60 mph blew down some tree limbs near La Motte, IA. Delayed report. |
| April 2013 | Hail | La Motte | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottonville | 4.2 miles | 17 | |
| Otter Creek | 5.0 miles | 17 | |
| Saint Donatus | 6.2 miles | 19 | |
| Andrew | 9.9 miles | 17 | |
| North Bellevue | 10.0 miles | 18 | |
| Smiths | 10.2 miles | 18 | |
| Fulton | 10.3 miles | 17 | |
| Bellevue | 10.8 miles | 18 |
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 Motte | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1930181 | The 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.








