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Central City, Nebraska

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Lone Tree Township. It lies in ZIP code area 68826. The Survey maps it on the Central City West quadrangle. 3,039 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,699 feet above sea level.

Central City within Merrick County

On record in Central City

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 6 records

Population over time

2 figures

Central City grew from 2,934 to 3,039 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
20102,934
20203,039+105 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 14 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

13 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Central City between 2008 and 2017, burning about 72 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 2 were 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 burning7
Natural2
Arson/incendiarism2
Fireworks1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
23 August 2008Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
3 July 2017Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
1 July 2017Fireworks1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
23 May 2008Natural1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
19 March 2011Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
18 March 2017Debris and open burning5.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
12 March 2011Debris and open burning2.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named
11 March 2008Debris and open burning1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Merrick County

Storms near this place

60 of 74 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Central City in 74 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 43 hail, 19 thunderstorm wind, 5 heavy rain, 4 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 2025HailCentral City$1,000,000no account filed
April 1994Tornado (F1)Central City$500,000A tornado touched down near the Platte River three miles south of Central City and then moved north to the east edge of town where it lifted back into the clouds. Outbuildings were damaged and tree tops were twisted off at three separate farms. The tornado blew the roof off of an auto body shop on the east edge of town.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindCentral City$500,000no account filed
June 2023Tornado (EF0)Central City$400,000A tornado touched down in rural portions of Merrick County a few miles northwest of Central City, with a maximum estimated wind speed of 80 MPH along a 4-mile path. The most noteworthy damage occurred at a large cattle company feedlot, where a large portion of a roof was blown off of a confinement barn, several outdoor pens and livestock shades were destroyed, and a few head of cattle were injured and had to be euthanized. In addition, several irrigation pivots were overturned. Some tree damage was also noted along the path of the tornado. At one farmstead, the home suffered gutter damage and an unoccupied tractor parked nearby had its windows blown out. There was also some hail damage to crops in roughly a 2x2 mile area.
October 2001Tornado (F2)Central City$300,000Tornado crossed from Merrick County into Nance County.
August 2007HailCentral City$250,000Hail ranged in size from 1.75 to 2.75 inches in diameter.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindCentral City$250,000no account filed
May 2002HailCentral City$250,000no account filed
May 2002HailCentral City$150,000no account filed
August 2011Thunderstorm WindCentral City$100,000Wind gusts estimated at 70 MPH resulted in tree damage in Central City as well as in the Willow Bend Lake area. The main tree damage occurred in the Willow Bend Lake area, where large tree limbs were knocked down and a 90 foot tree was uprooted, clipping the corner of the roof of a nearby home. Boats were also pulled loose from structures on the shore.
May 2000LightningCentral City$100,000no account filed
August 1998Thunderstorm WindCentral City$75,000no account filed
June 2003HailCentral City$50,000no account filed
May 1998HailCentral City$45,000no account filed
June 2024Thunderstorm WindCentral City$25,000A wind gust of 65 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located two miles south-southeast of Central City. Tree damage was reported in Central City, including a few larger downed branches.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindCentral City$25,000Tree damage was reported in the area, including downed limbs which damaged a home, and a power pole was also damaged.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindCentral City$25,000Tree limbs were downed in the area.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindCentral City$25,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in tree damage in Central City.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindCentral City$25,000Wind gusts estimated near 60 MPH knocked down tree limbs up to 5 inches in diameter.
May 2005HailCentral City$25,000no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindCentral City$25,000no account filed
May 2001HailCentral City$20,000no account filed
May 1998HailCentral City$20,000no account filed
August 1996LightningCentral City$12,000no account filed
August 2018Thunderstorm WindCentral City$10,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH knocked down a few tree limbs in town.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindCentral City$10,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in some tree damage in Central City, with power line and pole damage also reported.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindCentral City$10,000Winds knocked down large tree limbs and caused power outages across town.
June 2008HailCentral City$10,000no account filed
May 2007Flash FloodCentral City$10,000no account filed
May 2001HailCentral City$10,000no account filed
December 2021Thunderstorm WindCentral City-A wind gust of 58 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located four miles north of Central City.
August 2017Heavy RainCentral City-A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.03 inches was recorded 2 miles northeast of Central City.
August 2017Heavy RainCentral City-A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.03 inches was recorded 1 mile north-northeast of Central City.
June 2015HailCentral City-Quarter size hail occurred 2 miles southwest of Central City on Highway 30.
July 2014HailCentral City-Ground was almost completely covered by nickel size hail.
May 2013Heavy RainCentral City-A storm total rainfall of 3.03 inches was reported by a Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network Observer.
October 2013HailCentral City-Nickel size hail was ongoing at the time of the report.
October 2013HailCentral City-This report of nickel size hail was received via Facebook.
October 2013HailCentral City-This report of quarter size hail was received via an NERAIN (Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network) observer.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindCentral City-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 MPH.
July 2011Heavy RainCentral City-Total rainfall over the past 24 hours of 3.64 inches was reported by a Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network observer.
May 2001Tornado (F0)Central City-Brief touchdown with no damage.
April 2025HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2022HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2022HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2022HailCentral City-no account filed
August 2020HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindCentral City-no account filed
August 2018HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2015HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2014HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2014HailCentral City-no account filed
April 2013HailCentral City-no account filed
May 2013HailCentral City-no account filed
June 2010HailCentral City-no account filed
April 2007Heavy RainCentral City-no account filed
August 2007HailCentral City-no account filed
April 2006HailCentral City-no account filed
April 2006Thunderstorm WindCentral City-no account filed
April 2006HailCentral City-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Merrick 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
Heber1.5 miles14
Riverside Park2.0 miles14
Paddock3.9 miles14
Hord4.2 miles14
Archer7.9 miles13
Chapman10.5 miles13
Clarks11.2 miles13
Worms14.2 miles13

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 Central CityAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q955593The 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 828051. 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.