Donnan, Iowa

Donnan is a former town in Iowa, located in central Fayette County. For many years, this sleepy farm hamlet was Iowa's smallest incorporated community. The town never attracted many residents, peaking at around fifty people in the 1940s. Gradually, the population eroded, leaving the town with less than twenty-five residents in the 1970s, to just ten in 1980. Donnan's zip code was 52142 until 1980, when the post office at last closed its doors[1].In 1990, the last seven residents made national headlines when they voted to disincorporate, ending their town's status as an officially recognized community. A monument in front of the town's abandoned post office pays tribute to the empty community, which lies just a few miles north of its nearly empty sister community of Randalia (population 84).