The Knox County Sheriff’s Office in 2024 celebrated 90thbirthday of the mayor of Monowi, a northeast Nebraska village Elsie Eiler, who is the sole occupant of the smallest town in the U.S.

Elier runs the entire town by herself, and the town only has 3 buildings: her home, a restaurant and a library.

The mayor’s husband passed away in 2004 and she continued to run the town single handedly.

The tavern is the town’s only business run by her family since 1971, serves as a meeting spot for nearby residents. 

Monowi used to have a population of over 150 people, but it has slowly declined to its current state, it continues to exist because Elsie Eiler files the required county and state paperwork every year

Founded in 1902 by the Pioneer Townsite Company on the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Railroad line, the village was home to over 120 on the 1930s.

Successor Chicago & Northwestern Railway discontinued freight service to Monowi in 1978 when about 20 lived in the village of 0.2 square miles, or 133 acres.