I live here and have spent time in or have driven through pretty much every town from Sioux Falls to Tomah... I've driven 400-500 miles every day for years almost all of it along that stretch of 90 and the immediate area. I think it's safe to say I'd probably know the area.

Several tiny towns (population of a few hundred) have been dying for 50 years, yeah... That's just how it goes with small communities and how it's been since the frontier days. Your original comment makes it sound like that entire stretch is just dying towns, which is detached from reality.

But leave it to a wise redditor who's "parents are from the area" to know more than someone who has visited pretty much every town in southern Minnesota over the last 40 years.