A whole town of a population of 1 resident has been discovered

The population census data of the US for 2010 has revealed Monowi, Nebraska as the only incorporated town in the US with a population of only one resident.

The odditycentral.com reported that 84-year-old Elsie Eiler is the only resident of Monowi, and holds every position that an incorporated town requires to run effectively.

The news portal said Elsie Eiler “is the town’s mayor, clerk, treasurer, librarian, bartender, among other functions.”

It added that, “Every year she hangs a sign in the tavern advertising mayoral elections and then votes for herself. Federal law also requires her to produce a municipal road plan annually to secure state funding, and pay $500 in taxes to keep the water and electricity turned on. She also does the required paperwork to keep Monowi’s incorporated status and prevent it from becoming a ghost town.”

A whole town of a population of 1 resident

The lonely old woman is quoted by the BBC as saying “When I apply to the state for my liquor and tobacco licenses each year, they send them to the secretary of the village, which is me. So, I get them as the secretary, sign them as the clerk and give them to myself as the bar owner.”

Wondering if she would not feel too lonely? Elsie said “I’m happy here. I grew up here, I’m used to this, and I know what I want.”

According reports, Monowi was a fully-fledged town of a population of 150 people on the Elkhorn Railroad with booming businesses such as “three grocery shops, several restaurants, and even a prison”, back in the 1930s.

However, rural economies collapsed throughout the Midwest, and entire communities began to disappear from the US heartland after the second World War, and Monowi was not left out.

According to Oddity Central, “in 1960 the church held its last funeral for Eiler’s father, and then between 1967 and 1970 the post office and only remaining grocery store shut down. The school closed in 1974. In the mid-70s both of Eiler’s children moved away to find work, and by 1980 the town’s population had plummeted to 18. Twenty years later Rudy and Eiler comprised the entire population of Monowi until Rudy passed away in 2004.”

Though she is the only resident in the whole town, Elsie Eiler said “It’s like one big family. There are fourth- and fifth-generation customers coming in. It’s pretty neat when the people you remember as babies are now bringing their babies in to show me.”

It is reported that “Aside from the tavern, there is one other public building in Monowi – Rudy’s Library. An avid reader in life, Rudy’s dying wish was to turn his private collection into a public library. Monowi now has a tiny public library with a selection of over 5000 books and magazines. Eiler, naturally, serves as librarian. A key hangs in the tavern for anyone who wants to check something out, using the honor system to do so”.

Elsie Eiler has two children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who live in other cities and could have moved to live with them, but she said “I know I could always move closer to my children or stay with them whenever I want, but then I’d have to make all new friends again. As long as I’m able to be here, this is where I really want to be.”

A whole town of a population of 1 resident has been discovered

A whole town of

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