BlockBefore

Center, Nebraska

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Valley Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68724. The Survey maps it on the Center West quadrangle. 79 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,394 feet above sea level.

Center within Knox County

On record in Center

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Center fell from 94 to 79 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201094
202079-15 (-16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

7 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Center between 2015 and 2020, burning about 294 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning5
Equipment and vehicle use1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
1 August 2017Debris and open burning4.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
14 July 2016Debris and open burning10 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 April 2015Debris and open burning2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
27 April 2018Debris and open burning20 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
20 April 2015Debris and open burning40 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
18 March 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreNebraska Forest Servicenot named
6 November 2020Power generation/transmission/distribution218 acresWinnebago AgencyCAMPBELL

Every fire recorded in Knox County

Storms near this place

28 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Center in 28 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 19 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2007Tornado (EF0)Center$10,000This tornado tracked north through a very rural area with most roads in the area minimum maintenance with limited access. A machine shed was destroyed and a trailer overturned northeast of Center and 6 cattle were killed in the area. But generally any damage was confined to old deserted farm sites along with trees in the area.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindCenter$3,000Roof blown off a shed.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindCenter$2,000Law enforcement reported damage to wind screens and trees at a food lot.
July 2023HailCenter-Trained spotter reported 1.5-inch hail.
July 2023HailCenter-Law enforcement reported 1.25-inch hail.
July 2019HailCenter-The public reported 1.25 inch hail north of Center.
June 2018HailCenter-Golf ball size hail, covering the ground, in and around Center in Knox County caused significant damage to sidings and roofs.
August 2017HailCenter-Nickel size hail was reported southwest of Center.
May 2009HailCenter-Hail up to nickel-size covered the ground east of Center.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindCenter-Thunderstorm winds knocked down tree limbs 4 inches in diameter.
June 2006HailCenter-Hail up to 1 inch in diameter lasted for several minutes. The hail covered the ground white and also stripped leaves off of trees.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindCenter-Law enforcement officials estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of around 60 mph in Center.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindCenter-Trees downed. Power outages.
August 1997HailCenter-A significant hailstorm damaged corn and soybean crops in many parts of Knox county. The most significant damage occurred between Verdigre and Niobrara then east to Center and Bloomfield.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindCenter-Numerous 3 to 4 inch tree limbs downed.
September 1993Thunderstorm WindCenter-Strong thunderstorm winds destroyed trees and a couple of outbuildings.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindCenter-Strong winds blew down large tree limbs.
April 2025HailCenter-no account filed
July 2018HailCenter-no account filed
August 2011HailCenter-no account filed
June 2008HailCenter-no account filed
June 2008HailCenter-no account filed
May 2004HailCenter-no account filed
June 2004HailCenter-no account filed
July 2004HailCenter-no account filed
June 2002HailCenter-no account filed
June 2000HailCenter-no account filed
September 1998HailCenter-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Knox County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Sparta6.0 miles10
Bazile Mills6.8 miles10
Winnetoon8.0 miles10
Verdigre8.4 miles10
Creighton10.0 miles9
Lindy11.2 miles10
Bloomfield12.3 miles10
Tewsville12.5 miles9

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on CenterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2613155The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 828031. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.