RUDY’S LIBRARY It’s not unusual for small towns to have libraries. It is unusual for one man to have enough books (TEN pickup loads) to fill his own library. Little did Elsie Eiler, Monowi, know what she was letting herself in for, when she agreed to let Stephanie Simon, news reporter for the Los Angeles Times in the Midwest, come to Monowi for an interview and pictures of Rudy’s Library. Stephanie was working on a story on how small rural libraries are managing to keep their doors open under the reduced funding facing most library boards. Reading an article in the Omaha World Herald, she learned of the new library at Monowi. She came to Monowi the latter part of January to interview Elsie and thus begins the story of the smallest town in the United States with its own one man library. Monowi is a small incorporated town with a population of one (Elsie) sitting beside the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway, Highway 12, in Boyd County and located along the northern border of Nebraska. Rudy’s Library is a memorial to Elsie’s late husband, Rudy Eiler, who died of cancer a year ago. The Eilers have owned and operated the Monowi Tavern for over 30 years, and Elsie is still cooking up a storm every day. Two of Rudy’s passions were collecting memorabilia connected to the history of Monowi and reading books. Rudy dreamed of having a library where people could come and get books to read. Shelves were being installed in a garage size metal building when Rudy lost his battle with cancer. Rudy’s family decided to continue and complete the project and dedicate the library in Rudy’s memory. In May Rudy’s Library was ready for Rudy’s book collection to be moved into the new building. A plaque, “Rudy’s Dream Come True”, hangs on an inside wall and a sign outside the building proclaims “Rudy’s Library”. Books are checked out on the honor system. The story of the smallest town in the nation with a library appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times on February 11th and from that time Elsie’s life has not been the same. That same day she was interviewed live on KKNX, Los Angeles, via telephone. And later that same day she received a phone call from the BBC in London, England, making plans to call her the next day for a live interview, which they did. It wasn’t long before a correspondent from the London Times, who is stationed in Washington D. C., and a photographer from Los Angeles, CA., came to see her to do their own story for the London Times. Reading from the notes she has been keeping, Elsie tells of the many phone calls she has received, such as the ones from the Jay Leno show trying to make arrangements to have her on the show and also calling back to make sure that she wasn’t accepting any offers from other talk shows. Calls from the Ellen DeGeneras Show, the John Daily show; the Tony Danza Show and the Today Show. All except the Today Show wanted Elsie to come to their studios and appear on their shows. The Today Show is keeping in touch and wants to come to Monowi to tape a segment of their show some time in the future. She has also received many phone calls from people all over the United States telling her that they had read the article about Rudy’s Library in their newspapers. Many say they have connections to towns in Boyd county, but Eiler says, “ they don’t give the family names.” Eiler says she has received a ton of mail and books, most of it forwarded from the post office at Monroe, Nebraska. Monowi no longer has its own post office and its mail is delivered from the Lynch Post Office. The books are still sitting in boxes. She says she doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by refusing the books, but she really doesn’t want to put them in the library. “This library is a memorial to Rudy. All the books in the library are Rudy’s books.” She is thinking of giving the books to nearby libraries. The towns of Butte, Spencer and Lynch, all in Boyd County, to the west of Monowi and Niobrara in Knox County located 17 miles east of Monowi all have libraries. Digging in a big box in which she keeps all the letters and newspaper articles people have sent her, she held up an envelope which was addressed to the Mayor’s Office at the Town Hall in Monowi, which brought a laugh from customers. There is no town hall in Monowi. This particular writer was seeking official firemen’s patches from different towns for his collection. Holding the letters she received from England, she says, “this one offered to come over and help me, doing what I don’t know; this one wants to be my agent; and this one wants to know if there are any old gold mines and cowboys and Indians around Monowi to see if he comes.” Laughing she says, “ and this guy says that he believes the article he read, but that I must have lied about my age - that there was no way I could be that old. Sorry, I really am 71.” Many of the letters and phone calls tell Elsie how hard they had to search for the town of Monowi and how they finally came up with her phone number and/or address. The town of Monowi no longer appears on maps. A representative of Gabriel Publications called and told her he had tried to find Monowi in the phone book and failing at that, he went to Search Quest on the internet and came up with three Eiler names in the town of Bristow. He contacted Mavis Eiler, who said, yes, she knew Elsie, and gave him the phone number. Jim Brooks, Butte, stopped in one day to tell Elsie that someone from the Tony Danzas Show out of New York had called the Boyd County Courthouse at Butte inquiring how they could contact her. Elsie says, “ People from the cities have trouble understanding the concept of how we live and interact with our neighbors. People out here are willing to help each other. I consider people within 50 miles my friends and customers.” One day a WalMart truck stopped and the driver walked in and asked her to autograph his copy of the newspaper containing the story and picture of Rudy’s Library. “When the news reporter from Los Angeles, first called and asked if she could come up and do an article on Rudy’s Library,” Elsie said,. “I thought it would probably just be a small article. I never expected anything like this. It’s just been crazy ever since.”

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