The smallest US town fetches $900,000 at auction
Billed as the smallest town in America, Buford, Wyoming, was sold at auction Thursday for $900,000 to a Vietnamese buyer.
Billed as the smallest town in America, Buford, Wyoming, was sold at auction Thursday for $900,000 to a Vietnamese national who wants to remain anonymous.
Twenty-five bidders signed up for the auction, held online and on-site, of the town with its three-bedroom house, school, gas station and several other buildings.
Buford’s last inhabitant and the owner of the buildings, Don Sammons, 61, told AFP the package went to a Vietnamese man from Ho Chi Minh City.
The winner had to battle it out with bidders from Hong Kong, New York, Florida, Kansas and Wyoming, with the bidding starting at $100,000.
The former railroad stop once was home to about 2,000 people. But they started moving away after train service ended, until the sign at the entrance to town read, “Buford. Population: 1.”
The buyer will get 10 acres of land. Besides the house, a garage, cabin and barn, the property includes a cellphone tower and a parking lot that a trucking company uses to switch trailers at night.
The Buford Trading Post, as the outpost is called, benefits from regular traffic along the I-80 interstate, with Wyoming’s state capital Cheyenne just 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the east, and San Francisco 1,150 miles to the west.