[gohrt]

Why did that town exist? Why did a small number of people live in that isolated area, instead of closer in to population centers?

[AstralStorm]

Said town site is on a communication mainline - railroad.

Guess what, US lacks those for what would mostly be called political lobbying reasons. Including light rail and underground rail.

Rail is comparatively cheap to maintain compared to roads due to much higher passenger density and construction details. Even a tunnel is cheaper to maintain (not build) than a properly drained, pothole free and soft road.

[namlem]

It's not isolated. In another comment someone from there mentioned that it's not far from Moscow.