Visit Our Gallery of History and Art
The Mott Gallery of History & Art is located just 35 miles south of Richardton on Highway 8. It is a great "back roads" museum and art center. Our historic bank building (1911) is in the heart of downtown and visitors truly see the heart of Mott and its history.
"The Biker Thinker", a life-size metal sculpture by local artist Raymond "Oscar" Rogers, greets visitors just inside the main door. Each month features a special artist, with exhibits that are enhanced and changed frequently to pique your interest. Banking and railroad history, early business exhibits, military and school displays are easily viewed in a wide expansive area.
An agricultural annex, recently completed, gears up to bring you the history of the farming industry, so important to our lives, both then and now. Among the machinery exhibits is a Massey Harris #21 – the first self-propelled combine. These were used from Texas through North Dakota during WWII to help with the historic "Harvest Brigade" when so few farmers were available to reap the crops. Most young men were on foreign soil fighting for freedom. Read about it here and check out the combine.
A reading area offers family histories and pioneer interviews that tell the story of the early Mott area. Annals say the first white settler was Levi Colgrove, who came to southwest ND with his eldest son in 1882. They wintered in the Short Pine Hills and were part of the last buffalo hunt at the head of Timber Creek. Levi's complete family history is a part of our library.
