There is a town in Nebraska that holds a dubious status in American history. It has a population consisting of a single person: Elsie Eiler. Welcome to Monowi, the smallest incorporated town in the United States.
Although Monowi’s population is now somewhat small, it used to be considerably larger. Back in the 1930s, the tiny town had a community of around 150 people whose lives were supported by the local Elkhorn Railroad and surrounding farms. The town was equipped with grocery stores, restaurants, and even had its own prison.
However, like so many other rural towns, Monowi gradually experienced a population decline. Between 1930 and 1940, the American Great Plains, of which Monowi is part, suffered significant population loss. More than 75 percent of the counties in the region lost population during the decade due to the Great Depression and the collapse of rural economies. As parents chose to have fewer children and more people migrated to cities, entire communities in the region started to vanish.
By the early 2000s, Elsie and her husband Rudy were the last remaining residents in Monowi. Then, in 2004, Rudy died, leaving Elsie to become the ghost town’s sole resident.
Despite her singular existence, Elsie is far from being inactive or even a recluse. As both the town’s mayor and its only citizen, she carries out the necessary legal procedures to maintain the town’s status as an incorporated town. She files and pays taxes to herself, approves the annual town budget, and even holds a liquor license for the Monowi Tavern. As you can imagine, the tavern has become a local attraction and apparently has regulars who visit from nearby towns.
In addition to the tavern, Elsie also runs the local library, which was dedicated to her late husband’s memory. The library boasts a collection of 5,000 books and magazines.
In 2020, the census appeared to show that Monowi’s population had increased by 100 percent – to two people. However, this turned out to be a form of bureaucratic “noise”, whereby census data was added in order to protect the anonymity of a census respondent.
The story of Monowi may sound like an odd quirk, but it is symbolic of the 20th century decline in rural American towns. A once bustling community slowly disappeared, leaving behind ramshackle buildings and fewer – even just one – residents who carry the memory of what once was.
