KARNAK, Ill. — This village of 500 got a double whammy earlier this year, when the community’s only grocery store closed along with its only restaurant.

Wilson’s Grocery Store and Our Place restaurant — both owned by Channie Anderson and her husband — closed in May. That has left the residents of this town with fewer options for fresh food.

KASKASKIA, Ill. — This town not only doesn’t have a stoplight, it doesn’t even have a stop sign.

Kaskaskia may be the smallest incorporated city in Illinois, with only 14 residents. Valley City, in Pike County, had 13 residents according to the 2010 census, but results of the 2020 census will determine which community will hold that distinction now.

DALTON, Mo. — In the 1880s, Lizzy Kalinka’s great-grandfather Frank Kalinka traveled on the Missouri River from his hometown to the nearby community of Dalton, located in the river bottom in Chariton County, Missouri. He looked around at the beauty of the area, Lizzy Kalinka says, the fertile farm ground and the village, and promptly decided to move there.

“He got off that boat,” she says, “and he realized, this is the place where I need to be.”

BEACONSFIELD, Iowa — Mike Neessen says his small community has a big story to tell, and he believes that story will bring people to this Ringgold County town.

Neessen is one of three members of the city council in Beaconsfield, a city with only 15 residents counted in the 2010 Census. That tied it with Le Roy as the smallest incorporated city in Iowa.

CUMMING, Iowa — Dan Hanrahan states it simply: “To me, mental health is just health,” he says. “We can all learn how to do things better.”

Hanrahan, 43, runs a cow-calf operation with his parents near here. He belongs to a variety of organizations. He considers himself a sane, rational person.