Grand Island Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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City · Hall County · County seat · Population 53,131 (2020 census) · ZIP 68801 · Founded 1857

About Grand Island

Grand Island is a city of 53,131 people (2020), the fourth-largest in Nebraska and the seat of Hall County, at 1,870 feet on the Platte valley. I-80 runs about 4 miles south (Exits 312 and 314), US 30 crosses the city east–west and US 281 runs along its west side. It is home to the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, the Nebraska State Fair at Fonner Park, Hornady, the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center, CHI Health St. Francis and Grand Island Regional Medical Center, and Central Nebraska Regional Airport has flights to Dallas/Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Phoenix–Mesa. Grand Island is on Central Time.

History

Thirty-five German settlers led by Holstein-born William Stolley and backed by the Davenport Company of Davenport, Iowa, arrived on July 4, 1857, near the island between the Wood River and the Platte that French traders had called La Grande Isle. The Union Pacific reached the area in 1866 and laid out Grand Island Station a few miles west of the first settlement, and the city incorporated in 1872. Nebraska’s first beet-sugar factory opened here in 1890, with Henry T. Oxnard as its first manager; it closed in 1964. On November 3, 1915, Grand Island finished the second Lincoln Highway “Seedling Mile” in the nation. On the night of June 3, 1980, seven tornadoes struck the city, the strongest an F4 and three of them turning clockwise; five people were killed and about 200 injured, and the storm inspired Ivy Ruckman’s book Night of the Twisters. Henry Fonda was born here on May 16, 1905 (his family moved to Omaha the next year), as were the reformers Edith Abbott (1876) and Grace Abbott (1878).

Highways and trails through Grand Island

Route	One way	Other way
US 30East–west through the city (the Lincoln Highway)	West to Alda and Wood River	East to Chapman and Central City
US 281North–south along the west side	North to St. Paul	South to I-80 Exit 312, Doniphan and Hastings
I-80Exits 312 (US 281/US 34) and 314 (Locust St.), about 4 miles south	West to Kearney	East to York

Nearby towns

Alda	about 7 mi west-southwest	US 30
Phillips	about 8 mi east-southeast	County roads
Doniphan	about 10 mi south	US 281
Chapman	about 13 mi northeast	US 30
Cairo	about 14 mi west-northwest	NE 2
Wood River	about 15 mi west-southwest	US 30
Dannebrog	about 17 mi northwest	NE 2 and NE 58
Trumbull	about 17 mi south-southeast	County roads
St. Paul	about 21 mi north-northwest	US 281
Hastings	about 23 mi south	US 281
Juniata	about 24 mi south-southwest	County roads
Kearney	about 41 mi west-southwest	I-80

Things to see

the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, 3133 W. US Hwy 34: museum and the 1890s Railroad Town (open May 1–Sept. 15); National Register 2015 · the Lincoln Highway Seedling Mile on E. Seedling Mile Rd. (National Register 2013) · the Hall County Historical Society at the 1914 Burlington depot, 603 N. Plum St. · downtown’s National Register buildings, among them the Hotel Yancey, the Liederkranz, the Carnegie Library and the Hall County Courthouse · Fonner Park, the BigIron Events Center and Raising Nebraska · the Nebraska State Fair (Aug. 28–Sept. 7 in 2026) and the Harvest of Harmony parade (Oct. 3, 2026)

Events in Grand Island

Hall County Fair
Hall County Fair, a county fair in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Harvest of Harmony
Nebraska State Fair (NSF)
Nebraska state government agency/office. Listed in the official Nebraska.gov state agency directory. Official site: https://www.statefair.org/

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Schools and health care

Schools: Grand Island Public Schools (Grand Island Senior High, 2124 N. Lafayette Ave.; district office 123 S. Webb Rd.); Northwest Public Schools (Northwest High School, 2710 N. North Rd.); Grand Island Central Catholic (6–12), 1200 Ruby Ave.; Grand Island Lutheran High School (7–12), 3900 W. Husker Hwy.; Trinity Lutheran School (PreK–6), 208 W. 13th St.; Central Community College–Grand Island

Health care: CHI Health St. Francis (hospital), 2620 W. Faidley Ave.; Grand Island Regional Medical Center (67 beds, opened 2020), 3533 Prairieview St.; VA Nebraska–Western Iowa Health Care System, 2201 N. Broadwell Ave.

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Buechler, Barr & Stough, History of Hall County (1920); History Nebraska and its markers; National Register; Nebraska Department of Transportation; Nebraska Game and Parks; Central Platte NRD; Crane Trust; City of Grand Island; City of Wood River; Tourism Grand Island visitor guides (2024, 2025); Central Nebraska Regional Airport; school districts. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.