[4][5] Other communities with related names include Earling, Iowa; Marmarth, North Dakota; and Alberton, Montana.

As a publicity stunt coordinated by Kansas City radio station KYYS in 1993, the town unofficially took the name of Joe, Montana, after the NFL quarterback Joe Montana.

[6][7] The town's history and contemporary state (circa 1995) is discussed at length in travel writer Jonathan Raban's book, Bad Land: An American Romance.

According to Raban, Ismay's story is emblematic of the settlement and depopulation of the northern Great Plains.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.42 square miles (1.09 km2), all land.

[8] Ismay lies between Baker, Montana and Terry on the BNSF Railway's Hettinger Subdivision.

[citation needed] As of the 2010 census,[13] there were 19 people, 9 households, and 5 families living in the town.