Motley, Minnesota
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Motley City. It lies in ZIP code area 56466. It stands on Mosquito Creek. The Survey maps it on the Motley quadrangle. 680 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,230 feet above sea level.
On record in Motley
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 1 record
Almond A. White Houselisted 1986
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 10 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.
- 1953 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Motley quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:250000
- 1986 USGS Brainerd quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
115 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 115 fires within 5 miles of Motley between 1992 and 2020, burning about 476 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 13 were 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 | 49 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 15 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 28 September 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 September 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 August 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 August 1997 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 14 August 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Motley: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cary Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| East Zetah Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
20 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Motley in 20 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 12 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | $5,000 | A garage was destroyed causing 3,000 dollars damage. |
| July 2020 | Hail | Motley | - | There were several reports of quarter size hail just north of the Morrison/Cass County border and also southeast into northwest Morrison County. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | A large tree blew down on a power line south of Motley. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in the far northwest portion of Morrison County. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | Numerous trees and power lines down. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | Tree felled over road. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | Tree toppled over road. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | A total of 272 trees were downed at a golf course at the intersection of Hillcrest Road and Highway 10 about 5 miles south of Motley. The corner of a maintenance building was damaged by a felled tree. In addition, scattered trees were downed onto roads in the Scandia Valley Area. Power outages were also reported in Scandia Valley township. |
| August 2024 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Motley | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Motley | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Hail | Motley | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | 8.7 miles | 12 | |
| Cushing | 14.1 miles | 12 | |
| Randall | 18.6 miles | 12 | |
| Camp Ripley Junction | 24.9 miles | 13 | |
| Belle Prairie | 26.5 miles | 13 | |
| Flensburg | 27.0 miles | 12 | |
| Maple Leaf Court | 28.3 miles | 12 | |
| Little Falls | 29.1 miles | 12 |
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 Motley | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q662446 | 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 648137. 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.





