For Sale: Small Town With Bar Only $400,000

What's This?

Wayne Witt, a volunteer manager at Swett Tavern, walks along the single gravel road in Swett, S.D. while touring the property. A businessman is selling the small, southwestern South Dakota town for $400,000.

Image: Rapid City Journal, Eric Ginnard/Associated Press

By Amanda Wills2014-06-30 14:10:32 UTC

A South Dakota businessman is looking to sell his rural, southwestern town for just $400,000. For that price tag, one lucky buyer will get a bar, workshop, three trailers and a house.

The rural town, called Swett, is an unincorporated hamlet about two hours from Rapid City. The owner, Lance Benson, purchased Swett in 1998 and currently lives in the house with his wife. However, he's looking to sell all of it so he can invest more money in his travel concession business, according to Rapid City Journal .

Although the town isn't as "booming" as it once was — in the 1940s it had a population of 40 people and included a post office and grocery store — the bar, known as the Swett Tavern, actually holds some value because it's the only watering hole within a 10-mile radius and a hub for cowboys and wheat growers.

"This place is pretty much where the highway ends and the Wild West begins," local patron Gerry Runnels told Rapid City Journal.

Swett is part of Bennet County in southern South Dakota, which has a total population of 3,431 people. Today, its official population is just two people, and it spans about six acres.

Benson says he'll hold on to the town if he can't sell it within a year. "I hate to get rid of it," he said.

Though Swett is pretty remote, $400,000 for a whole town and a relatively thriving business is a pretty good deal. A property of equivalent size in New York would sell for an average of $118,400,000.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Topics: south dakota, U.S., US & World