Are you looking for Tiny Town USA? You’ve come to the right place!
Americans looking for an idyllic vacation town are in luck. A new study has found that this Nebraska town is the best. It’s run entirely by locals.
Monowi, a small incorporated village in Boyd County, ranks first Far and Wide’s 2024 list of the best cities to visit or live in across the country.
The village only became popular when federal officials realized that the only resident in the 0.21-square-mile area was 90-year-old Elsie Eiler.
Eiler is not only the only resident, but also the town’s mayor, librarian and bartender.
Monowi, a small incorporated town in Boyd County, was ranked first on the Far and Wide list of best cities to visit or live in nationwide in 2024
The village first became popular after federal officials realized that the only resident in the 0.21-square-mile area was 90-year-old Elsie Eiler
She runs her own Monowi Tavern, which she has owned since June 1971, and also issues her own bar license.
Eiler has been taking care of the declaration and payment of its taxes itself for more than ten years.
In addition, the sole local resident runs the five-thousand-book Rudy’s Library, founded in memory of her late husband, Rudy Eiler.
Situated between the Niobrara and the larger Missouri Rivers, this village had a population of 150 in the 1930s.
Eiler runs her own Monowi Tavern, which she has owned since June 1971, and also licenses the bar
Besides being the only resident, Eiler is also the town’s mayor, librarian and bartender
Monowi was founded in 1902 as a farming, ranching and railroad town. By the 1930s, the town had all the trappings of a vibrant Great Plains village: grain silos, schools, a post office, a church and even a jail.
However, due to the modernization of agriculture and the closure of the railway in 1978, Monowi fell into disrepair and residents had to look for work elsewhere.
The prison is now an empty rust-colored building, marred by real rust. The last funeral service at the church was in 1960, for Eiler’s father, and the last Sunday service was held not long after.
Since Eiler’s story and the village’s peculiarities became more and more popular, people from all over the world came to Monowi to listen to her stories.