Ismay, Montana | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 46°29′58″N 104°47′37″W / 46.49944°N 104.79361°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Montana |
County | Custer |
Area | |
• Total | 0.42 sq mi (1.09 km2) |
• Land | 0.42 sq mi (1.09 km2) |
• Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
Elevation | 2,526 ft (770 m) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 17 |
• Density | 40.48/sq mi (15.64/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-7 (Mountain (MST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-6 (MDT) |
ZIP code | 59336 |
Area code | 406 |
FIPS code | 30-38950 |
GNIS feature ID | 0794947[2] |
Ismay is a town in Custer County, Montana, United States. There is a post office at Ismay, and a church, and no other businesses or services. The population was 17 at the 2020 census. The town is the least-populous incorporated municipality in the state of Montana.[3]
The town's name is an amalgamation of Isabella and May, the names of the daughters of Albert J Earling, division superintendent (later president) of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway.[4][5] Other communities with related names include Earling, Iowa; Marmarth, North Dakota; and Alberton, Montana. As a publicity stunt coordinated by Kansas City radio station KYYS in 1993, the town unofficially took the name of Joe, Montana, after the NFL quarterback Joe Montana.[6][7]
The town's history and contemporary state (circa 1995) is discussed at length in travel writer Jonathan Raban's book, Bad Land: An American Romance. According to Raban, Ismay's story is emblematic of the settlement and depopulation of the northern Great Plains.