to understand it. Many people prefer to live that way. Many of them have lived in the same home for generations. If there is employment, it works for them. Some of them, who farm, often have off-farm jobs. Some teach. Some are self-employed.
My community has 2,355 people. The largest town in my county has a population of a little over 9,500.
Why do you live in a large town? I do enjoy visiting cities and have no desire to mock your lifestyle. But you could not pay me to live that way.
Some of this small town tradition goes back to the seven mile rule. During the horse and buggy days, towns were about seven miles apart. It was possible to travel from one town to another in one day if the towns were about seven miles apart. It was possible to do errands in town and get home the same day if the distance was seven miles or less. Today, some of these "towns" are not incorporated, they do not have zip codes, and their mailing addresses have the zip code of a larger, nearby community. Some of them do have post offices and zip codes, though. Either way, they still have names. They have names like Haldane, Nelson, Walton. They are still communities. Yes, some of them do have only hundreds of people.
States even more rural than Illinois certainly have more of this. It is worth exploring and trying to understand our rural town history. We are never going to bridge the urban/rural divide unless we do.
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