{"id":8136,"date":"2023-09-20T06:42:38","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T06:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=8136"},"modified":"2026-08-22T01:45:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T01:45:50","slug":"motley-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/motley-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Motley County, Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Motley County is a county in Texas, United States, on the Rolling Plains south of the Panhandle. It had a population of 1,063 at the 2020 census and covers 990 square miles (2,600 km2) centred near 34\u00b005\u2032N 100\u00b047\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Matador is the county seat, and its postal code is 79244. The county has two incorporated towns, one unincorporated community, and two ghost towns. Motley County is in the Central time zone.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Motley County<\/h2>\n<p>Motley County has five recognised places, split between two incorporated towns and one active unincorporated community; the remainder are ghost towns kept in local memory and on older maps. Only Matador and Roaring Springs hold formal town status.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Matador<\/td>\n<td>Town &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>79244<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Roaring Springs<\/td>\n<td>Town<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>79256<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Flomot<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>79234<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Whiteflat<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp. (ghost town)<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tee Pee City<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp. (ghost town)<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Whiteflat and Tee Pee City once had post offices, churches and a school apiece, but both faded after Highway 70 and the railroad bypassed them; almost nothing remains at either site today. Older informal listings for the county sometimes add names like Folley, Mac Bain, Northfield, Russellville and Whitestar \u2014 these were rural post offices, ranch headquarters, or school communities active in the early 1900s and are not verifiable as populated places today, so they are omitted here rather than repeated as if current.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>79244 &mdash; Matador<\/li>\n<li>79256 &mdash; Roaring Springs<\/li>\n<li>79234 &mdash; Flomot<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These three ZIP codes cover the entire county; residents outside the three post-office towns still use one of them for mail.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Motley County sits on the Caprock Escarpment&#8217;s eastern edge, where the flat High Plains break into rougher, canyon-cut Rolling Plains terrain. The county is drained by the North Pease River and its tributaries, which cut red-clay canyons through the western half of the county near Matador. Land use is almost entirely ranching, with cotton and grain sorghum farmed on the flatter ground.<\/p>\n<p>Motley County borders <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/hall-county-texas\/\">Hall County<\/a> to the north, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/cottle-county\/\">Cottle County<\/a> to the east, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/dickens-county\/\">Dickens County<\/a> to the south, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/floyd-county-texas\/\">Floyd County<\/a> to the west, and Briscoe and King counties to the northwest.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>The 2020 census counted 1,063 residents, making Motley one of the ten least populous counties in Texas. Matador and Roaring Springs are the county&#8217;s two population centers; most other residents live on ranches and farms scattered across the county. Median household income runs well below the Texas median of $75,780, typical of the sparsely populated Rolling Plains counties. With 990 square miles of land, the county&#8217;s population density is roughly one person per square mile, among the lowest in the state.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Cattle ranching is the backbone of the county&#8217;s economy, on rangeland that has run cattle since the open-range era of the 1880s. Cotton, wheat and grain sorghum are grown on the county&#8217;s flatter cropland. Motley County Independent School District, based in Matador, is one of the county&#8217;s largest employers, and Matador&#8217;s county courthouse anchors local government jobs. Motley County was historically one of Texas&#8217;s &#8220;dry&#8221; counties under local prohibition rules; it now permits alcohol sales.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The Texas Legislature created Motley County in 1876 from Bexar and Young territory, and it was formally organized in 1891 with Matador as county seat. The county is named for Junius William Mottley, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence \u2014 the county&#8217;s name is a misspelling of his surname, carried over from an error in the original bill and never corrected. The vast Matador Ranch, one of the largest cattle operations in Texas history, once covered much of the county and shaped its early economy and place names.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>U.S. Highway 62\/70 and State Highway 70 are the county&#8217;s main roads, meeting at Matador.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Childress \u2014 45 miles northeast<\/li>\n<li>Plainview \u2014 55 miles southwest<\/li>\n<li>Lubbock \u2014 85 miles south<\/li>\n<li>Amarillo \u2014 100 miles north<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport is the nearest commercial airport.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Motley County?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt is in the Rolling Plains of northwest Texas, on the eastern edge of the Caprock Escarpment south of the Panhandle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Motley County?<\/strong><br \/>\n1,063 people at the 2020 census, one of the ten least populous counties in Texas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Motley County?<\/strong><br \/>\n990 square miles (2,600 km2), almost all of it land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Motley County?<\/strong><br \/>\nMatador is the county seat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns are in Motley County?<\/strong><br \/>\nTwo incorporated towns, Matador and Roaring Springs, plus the unincorporated community of Flomot and two former settlements now considered ghost towns.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes are in Motley County?<\/strong><br \/>\n79244 (Matador), 79256 (Roaring Springs) and 79234 (Flomot).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is Motley County spelled differently from its namesake, Junius Mottley?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe county&#8217;s name is a misspelling of &#8220;Mottley&#8221; that was written into the 1876 bill creating the county and was never corrected.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/texas\/\">Towns and villages in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Motley County is a county in Texas, United States, on the Rolling Plains south of the Panhandle. It had a population of 1,063 at the 2020 census and covers 990 square miles (2,600 km2) centred near 34\u00b005\u2032N 100\u00b047\u2032W. Matador is the county seat, and its postal code is 79244. The county has two incorporated towns, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Motley County, Texas","_seopress_titles_desc":"Motley County, Texas: population, ZIP codes for Matador and Roaring Springs, county history, geography and towns in this Rolling Plains county.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-8136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-texas","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11473,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8136\/revisions\/11473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}