Elsie Eiler

Elsie Eiler

Ninety-year-old Elsie Eiler has gained international attention for being the “one” in her small Nebraska town’s population of one. However, anyone who dives into the details of her story can see that Eiler is as noteworthy for her excellent character as for her zip code.

Monowi is located in northeastern Nebraska, four miles from the South Dakota border, and its population has been steadily declining since its pre-WWII heyday as a railroad and farming/ranching hub. By 1980, the town had a population of 18, and, by the 2000 census, there were just two residents—Eiler and her husband. When her spouse died in 2004, Monowi earned the distinction of becoming a one-resident town.

Monowi may be the smallest municipality in America, but according to various media accounts, it remains “very much alive” thanks to Eiler’s dedication. She continues to run the Monowi Tavern that she and her husband started in the 1970s (relaunching a business that had once been her father’s), and she also serves as Monowi’s town clerk and mayor. (Every year, she posts a notice in her bar announcing the mayoral election and then votes for herself and pays herself taxes.) In addition, she is town librarian, having honored her late husband’s wish to convert his 5,000-volume book collection into a public library.

People Magazine, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Country Living, the BBC, the German Times, and many other media outlets have featured Eiler, who has also appeared in commercials for Prudential Insurance and Arby’s.

With all this public notice, Elsie and Monowi Tavern attract visitors from all over the U.S. and the world—at last report, every single U.S. state and 80 different countries. She started a guest book in 2004 and is now on her tenth. A Solari team member who had the opportunity to speak with Eiler reports that Elsie is a “true jewel” representing the best of American womanhood in so-called flyover country. We congratulate Eiler on her determination to keep Monowi on the map. She told one news outlet, “I don’t get lonely. I have too many interests and old friends.”