Motor is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Paradise Township,

Rooks County, Kansas Rooks County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Stockton, and its largest city is Plainville. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 4,919. The county was named for John Rooks, a private in Compa ...

, United States.

History

Motor was located three-quarters of a mile to the east of Codell. The town had two stores, a hotel and restaurant, a blacksmith shop, a wind driven grist mill and a saw mill. The Floreyville post office was moved to Motor and a school was established in 1879. The first school building was constructed of sod. A frame schoolhouse was built in 1886 and served the community until 1894. In 1879, Motor failed to negotiate an agreement to establish a

depot Depot may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Glacier (disambiguation) * Depot Island (disambiguation) * Depot Nunatak * Depot Peak Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in Chicago, United States * Of ...

with

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

. Union Pacific instead founded the community of Codell as a

railroad town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...

. Most of the frame buildings in Motor were moved to the growing community of Codell. In 1889, the Motor post office was moved to Codell, then Motor was soon abandoned.

References

Former populated places in Rooks County, Kansas Former populated places in Kansas 1879 establishments in Kansas Populated places established in 1879 {{RooksCountyKS-geo-stub