For Sale: The nation’s smallest town

It’s an unusual auction: an entire town up for sale. Buford, Wyo., is advertised as the smallest town in the United States – population, 1.

Now, Don Sammons, sole resident and mayor of the unincorporated community between Cheyenne and Laramie, is selling his trading post business and moving on, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. And he says you can get his empire at a good price.

Buford is scheduled to go on the auction block at noon April 5. It will be the latest chapter in a saga dating back to 1866 when Buford, named after a Civil War general, was built as a fort to protect workers building the Transcontinental Railroad. The town once had 2,000 residents, but that changed after the railroad was rerouted.

Buford has had a post office since 1880, and the town still has its own ZIP code. People who live nearby keep post office boxes in the town. U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant visited Buford, and outlaw Butch Cassidy robbed a store there.

Sammons and his family moved from Los Angeles to Buford in 1980. He bought the trading post in 1992 and operated it until last year. Sammons’ family moved away over the years, but he stayed.

Sammons is putting the whole works on the market, including the Buford Trading Post, a gas station and convenience store; a schoolhouse/office built in 1905; a cabin; a three-bedroom home; and about 10 acres of land.

Williams and Williams, an Oklahoma City-based auction company, is handling the sale. Bidding starts at $100,000. The auctioneer is looking for the right kind of buyer, someone with a romantic bent.

“We’re going to have a variety of people attracted to this property, based on what it would mean to them,” Amy Bates, chief marketing officer for the company, told the newspaper.