Americans looking for an idyllic vacation town are in luck, as a new study has named this Nebraska town the best, and only the locals rule it.
Monowi, a small incorporated town in Boyd County, ranked first in Far and Wide roster for 2024 of the best cities to visit or live in the entire country.
The town first gained popularity after federal officials realized that the only inhabitant in the 0.21-square-mile area was 90-year-old Elsie Eiler.
In addition to being the town’s sole resident, Eiler is also the town’s mayor, librarian, and bartender.
Monowi, a small incorporated town in Boyd County, took the top spot on Far and Wide’s 2024 list of the best cities to visit or live in the entire country.
The town first gained popularity after federal officials realized that the only inhabitant 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 grants her own license for the bar.
Eiler has also been filing and paying taxes herself for more than a decade.
In addition to this, the sole local resident maintains the five-thousand-volume Rudy Library, founded in memory of her late husband, Rudy Eiler.
Located between the Niobrara River and the Missouri River, this town once had a population of 150 in the 1930s.
Eiler runs her own Monowi Tavern, which she has owned since June 1971, and also issues her own license for the bar.
In addition to being the town’s sole 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 bustling Great Plains town: grain elevators, schools, a post office, a church and even a jail.
But with the modernization of agriculture and the closure of the railway in 1978, Monowi began to decline, forcing its residents to move elsewhere in search of work.
The jail is now a rust-colored, empty building, marred by rust. The last funeral service at the church was held in 1960, for Eiler’s father, and the last Sunday service was held shortly afterward.
Since Eiler’s story and the village’s uniqueness gained popularity, people from all over the world have visited Monowi to hear his stories.