Motor is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Clayton County,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The townsite is also a nationally recognized

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

listed as a historic site on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1977.

History

John Thompson, J.P. Dickinson and James O. Crosby formed a partnership in October, 1867 called John Thompson and Company. They planned to build a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

, a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

, a farm and a town that they called Motor. with The site they chose had been the location of a previous sawmill named the Downey Mill at Hastings Bottom. They began construction of the mill cooperage in August 1867, finishing the mill in December 1869. The mill was in operation by 1870, and a formal town plat was submitted for taxation at the Clayton County Courthouse in August, 1875. Because of his success with establishing mills in nearby Elkader and Clermont, John Thompson was confident that Motor would be equally successful. The townsite includes the gristmill, a bridge across the Turkey River, cooperage,

smoke house A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.

, an old inn, and the livery barn. The site also contained a few houses, a school, general store and sawmill. A

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

was completed within of Motor in 1874. A station house was built, a station agent was hired, and track was scheduled to be laid in 1875, but a flood wiped out the

ties TIES may refer to: * TIES, Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science * TIES, The Interactive Encyclopedia System * TIES, Time Independent Escape Sequence * Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science * The International Ecotourism Society {{disambig ...

and the railroad never made it to Motor. Chinch bugs wiped out the local wheat crop and local farmers moved on to other crops. In July, 1883, a major flood caused the operation of the mill to cease forever as a milling operation. The original investors were no longer interested in maintaining or updating the mill as stone grinding was becoming a thing of the past. The partnership that built the town dissolved. From 1883 to 1903 the properties were rented to local farmers until Louis Klink bought the property in 1903. He sold the mill machinery and he used the buildings for his farm operation. The property remained in the family for 80 years. The Clayton County Conservation Board acquired the property in 1983. The area is now a park with hiking trails, a primitive campground, and a place to launch canoes. It is part of the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area. Motor's population was 22 in 1902, and 26 in 1915.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Iowa Unincorporated communities in Clayton County, Iowa Historic districts in Clayton County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Clayton County, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Ghost towns in Iowa 1867 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1867