Map of Ismay town

Ismay is a town in Custer County, Montana, United States. The population was 17 at the 2020 census. The town is the least-populous incorporated municipality in the state of Montana.

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. 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.

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.

Ismay town overview:
Name:	Ismay town
LSAD Code:	43
LSAD Description:	town (suffix)
State:	Montana
County:	Custer County
Elevation:	2,526 ft (770 m)
Total Area:	0.42 sq mi (1.09 km²)
Land Area:	0.42 sq mi (1.09 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	17
Population Density:	40.48/sq mi (15.64/km²)
ZIP code:	59336
Area code:	406
FIPS code:	3038950
GNISfeature ID:	0794947

Online Interactive Map

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Ismay online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.