Mona is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Mitchell County,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census the population of Mona was 35. Mona_school

History

Mona got its start in 1869, following construction of the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

through that territory. Mona was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted May 30, 1870, in sections 11 and 14, by Mary C. Agard, Benjamin Agard, Edward Gregory, and Charles Gregory. Mona had one school building, with an enrollment of 56 students, with two teachers, in 1917. Around that time, Mona had begun to decline in importance when most railroading business had been transferred to

Lyle, Minnesota Lyle is a city in Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The city lies on the north side of the Iowa border. The population was 522 at the 2020 census. History Lyle was platted in 1870. The city was named after Robert Lyle, a farmer, te ...

, across the Iowa-Minnesota border. Mona_church

Geography

Mona is located in the northern portion of Mitchell County; the community's northern border is the

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

state line. The city of

, abuts Mona to the north. U.S. Route 218 runs along the northeast edge of the community, leading south to

St. Ansgar Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865), also known as Anskar, Saint Ansgar, Saint Anschar or Oscar, was Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in the northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North" ...

, the post office serving Mona, and to Osage, the Mitchell

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

. To the north US 218 leads to

Austin, Minnesota Austin is a city in and the county seat of Mower County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 26,174 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The town was originally settled along the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River and has ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Mona CDP has an area of , all land. Otter Creek runs through the east side of the community, flowing southwest to the Cedar River at

Otranto Otranto (, , ; ; ; ; ) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). ...

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2020, there were 35 people, 13 households, and 9 families residing in the community. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 15.4 inhabitants per square mile (5.9/km²). There were 19 housing units at an average density of 8.4 per square mile (3.2/km²). The

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

makeup of the community was 91.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.9% Black or African American, 0.0% Native American, 0.0% Asian, 2.9%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.0% from other races and 2.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

persons of any race comprised 0.0% of the population. Of the 13 households, 15.4% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 0.0% were cohabitating couples, 7.7% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present and 30.8% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 30.8% of all households were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older. The median age in the community was 58.5 years. 25.7% of the residents were under the age of 20; 0.0% were between the ages of 20 and 24; 20.0% were from 25 and 44; 17.1% were from 45 and 64; and 37.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the community was 54.3% male and 45.7% female.

References

Census-designated places in Mitchell County, Iowa Census-designated places in Iowa Unincorporated communities in Mitchell County, Iowa Unincorporated communities in Iowa {{MitchellCountyIA-geo-stub