Motley began as a lumber and railroad town, and its location between two rivers shaped its future. Logs floated down these rivers to sawmills built by Morrison on the Crow Wing and by Curtis and Laurence on the Long Prairie, and the rough-cut lumber was then shipped by rail. After the white pine was logged out, the clearings were cultivated and the town became a farmers market-place. Opinions differ on the origin of the town's name: some held that it was named after John Lothtrop Motley, an American diplomat and historian, but a more popular version says that a Northern Pacific Railroad official, seeing the rough-hewn frontiersmen gathered at the railhead, exclaimed, "What a motley crew!" and the name caught on.