GHOST TOWNS...

RENWICK, Iowa — Renwick, Iowa, used to be a bustling town. Things changed when people started moving away. Renwick's grocery store, hardware store, school and car dealership all closed. Last June, the town's only bar closed, too.

It was starting to seem as if there wasn't much of a town left.

A group of seven friends and their husbands and wives wanted to do something about it. They had been meeting at the bar for years. They decided to reopen it themselves.

One of them bought the place and the others pooled their money to fix it up. It reopened in September and is called the Blue Moose Saloon.

It was a big achievement. It was also one that is becoming more common.

Towns Are Changing As People Move Away

People are continuing to move out of many of America's small towns. Some of the people who stay in these small towns want to hold on to the gathering places and stores.

One of the Blue Moose owners is Ron Oberhelman. He is a 59-year-old farmer and has seen the town's population drop from about 500 to 235 people. Still, those who stay need somewhere to meet, he said.

"When your local place closes up, you're pretty much lost," he said.

Renwick is about 90 miles north of the capital, Des Moines. It has wide streets that are usually empty. Just a few people who stop at the small post office, do business at the grain elevators or work at a seed plant. But cars and pickups begin pulling up to the Blue Moose not long after it opens every afternoon.

Different State, Same Problem

The situation in the small town of Decatur, Nebraska, is much the same. There, a dozen people put up money to help the owners of the Green Lantern Steakhouse rebuild after it burned in 2008.

"It's not very easy to have a strong, active small town," said Matt Connealy, who lives on a farm just outside town. "You have to do things that don't always make the best sense financially."

Once reopened, the restaurant resumed its place as the community's main gathering spot. It was once again home to high school graduation parties, baby showers and other events. Near the entrance, notices are crammed on a wall board.

"If you want to find out what's happening, that's where you go," Connealy said.

People Fear Losing Their Gathering Places

In Iowa, about two-thirds of the state's 99 counties have been losing population for many years. But more people who live in these small towns have been joining together to save important businesses in their communities. Some combine their money and own the business as a group. This is called a cooperation, or a co-op. Towns will often try to get government money to help, too.

People fear without gathering places in town, they won't know each other. They will not know who is getting married, who is sick or who needs help.

In Kiester, Minnesota, the 486 people who live there got permission from the state government for the city to own the town's food store. People who live there then joined together to buy the Kiester Market.

Marcia Dahleen, who used to run the market, said the grocery store also relies on volunteers to help. It delivers to elderly people at home and takes special orders for meat.

"We try to bend over backward to help people in town," she said.

Tiny Bowdon Steps Up

Bowdon, North Dakota, has a population of 135. People who live there also joined together to save a meat-cutting plant after the owner died. They were worried that if the meat plant did not stay open, the town's cafe and grocery store would have to close as well.

They knew they had to buy the meat plant to save the town. So they did.