Curtis Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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City · Frontier County · Population 806 (2020 census) · ZIP 69025 · Founded 1886 · Peak population 1,166 (1970)

About Curtis

Curtis is a city of 806 people (2020) and the largest town in Frontier County, on NE 23 in the Medicine Creek valley at 2,585 feet. NE 18 leads southeast to the county seat, Stockville. Curtis is home to the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, a two-year campus of the University of Nebraska, and to Medicine Valley Public Schools; it has the Klyte Burt Memorial Library, a city pool, the nine-hole Arrowhead Meadows Golf Course and a campground at Mill Park. Curtis is on Central Time.

History

A Curtis post office opened in 1877, named for a trapper who had settled where Curtis Creek meets the Medicine. The Burlington’s Holdrege–Sterling line was completed to the site on October 6, 1885, and the Lincoln Land Company laid out the town on August 17, 1886. Curtis became a freight division point with a roundhouse and machine shop, was incorporated as a village in 1887 and became a city in 1922. The Legislature created the Nebraska School of Agriculture in 1911 and chose Curtis for it; the school opened in 1913, began college courses in 1965 and was renamed the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in 1994. Curtis outgrew the county seat and tried to take it in 1920, 1930 and again around 1950, but Stockville kept it every time. The Easter pageant, held each Palm Sunday since 1958, led the Legislature to name Curtis “Nebraska’s Easter City” in 1981. The city peaked at 1,166 people in 1970.

Highways and trails through Curtis

Route	One way	Other way
NE 23Through town	East to Moorefield, Farnam and Eustis	West to Maywood and US 83
NE 18Begins at NE 23 (2nd St.)	Southeast to Stockville and on toward Elwood (partly gravel)

Nearby towns

Moorefield	about 7 mi northeast	NE 23
Maywood	about 7 mi west-northwest	NE 23
Stockville	about 9 mi southeast	NE 18
Wellfleet	about 15 mi northwest	NE 23 and US 83
Farnam	about 16 mi east-northeast	NE 23
Eustis	about 25 mi east	NE 23
Gothenburg	about 27 mi northeast	NE 23 and NE 47
Cambridge	about 30 mi southeast	NE 18 and county roads
McCook	about 30 mi south-southwest	US 83
North Platte	about 38 mi north-northwest	US 83

Things to see

the NCTA campus and its arboretum · the Hansen Memorial Museum, 502 Prentiss St. · the Frontier County Historical Society, 209 Center Ave. · the Curtis Veterans Memorial in City Park · Arrowhead Meadows Golf Course and the Mill Park campground

Events in Curtis

Curtis Easter Pageant
Free Easter pageant staged each Palm Sunday since 1958 at Medicine Valley High School in Curtis, "Nebraska's Easter City."

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Medicine Valley Public Schools: Medicine Valley Elementary (PK–5), 605 Ord Ave., (308) 367-4210; Medicine Valley Middle and High School (6–12), 303 Crook Ave., (308) 367-4106; Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, 404 E. 7th St., (308) 367-4124

Health care: Community Hospital, McCook (about 30 mi), announced in July 2025 that it would close its Curtis Medical Center clinic; nearest hospital McCook

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Frontier County (co.frontier.ne.us); City of Curtis; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Southwest Nebraska Genealogical Society place names; History Nebraska; HMdb; National Register; Nebraska Game and Parks; Bureau of Reclamation; NCTA; Nebraska Legislature (LR 10, 1993); McCook Gazette; Nebraska Life; SchoolDigger. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.