Who is Elsie Eiler? Meet lone woman in one-person town

Credit: Photo by Brandon Mowinkel on Unsplash

Credit: Photo by Brandon Mowinkel on Unsplash

Talk about a small town.

The town of Monowi, Nebraska, is really small. How small? How about not having 10 residents, or even five. There is only one person who lives in the town.

Elsie Eiler is the town's only resident. She's also its mayor, treasurer, clerk, secretary, tavern owner and librarian, Fox News reported.

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She's the only one living in Monowi, according to the 2010 Census. It's also the only town, village or city in America with a lone person listed as a resident.

Eiler is 84 years old and a cancer survivor after battling colon cancer in 2011.

She opens her town to visitors from all over the country and the world, serving them economical burgers for $3.50, hot dogs for $1.25 and "the coldest beer" in town, Fox News reported.

So far people from 47 states and 41 countries have stopped by. There are also her regulars to the Monowi Tavern who come in from nearby towns.

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As taxpayer and treasurer, she is the only person who pays taxes and she pays them to herself to the tune of $500 to keep water and electricity supplied. She also creates a road plan that she has to submit to the state to get funding. She also applies for, and approve,s the tavern's liquor and tobacco licenses each year, the BBC reported.

Eiler wasn't always the lone resident. Back in the 1930s, there were businesses, 150 residents and a prison, the BBC reported. But like many cities, people moved away or died, as did Eiler's husband Rudy, who passed away in 2004, Reuters reported shortly after the Census was released.

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