Compiling a list of the smallest towns can be problematic, in that you should have a definition of "town." However, that matters less than a good story in this case. Some of the towns listed are incorporated, others are unincorporated, but they were selected for having something interesting about them to write about. That certainly goes for Centralia, Pennsylvania, population 5.
In 1962, a trash fire in Centralia’s dump spread into an underground coal seam and wouldn’t stop burning for the next two decades. In 1981, a 12-year-old boy was nearly sucked into the subterranean inferno when the ground gave out beneath him. Two years later, Congress set aside $42 million to buy out the town’s 1100 residents, but nine holdouts refused. After another two decades, they won the right to stay in their homes. Those that remain alive are Centralia’s last residents.
And on the lighter side, there's Warm River, Idaho, population 3.
Warm River became a city thanks to a quirk in Idaho’s 1947 liquor laws that restricted liquor licenses to establishments within municipal borders. That year, Fred Lewies, an Estonian immigrant who owned and operated the Warm River Inn and Rendezvous Dance Hall, incorporated the city so that he could legally serve drinks at his bar. The town has had three mayors: Fred’s wife Berta, their daughter Lillian, and their granddaughter Lonnie. Today, Warm River still has its dance hall, but it’s also a fishing destination and a stop for tourists on their way into Yellowstone National Park.
Read the stories of tiny towns in 48 other states at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Flickr user Scott Drzyzga)