Hazard Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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Village · Sherman County · Population 57 (2020 census) · ZIP 68844 · Founded 1886 · Peak population 167 (1920)

About Hazard

Hazard is a village of 57 people (2020) in southwestern Sherman County, at about 2,123 feet. NE 2 and NE 10 meet here: NE 2 runs northwest to Litchfield and southeast to Ravenna, and NE 10 runs north to Loup City and south to Pleasanton and Kearney. Hazard has a village office, Lutheran, Methodist and Catholic churches and a cemetery; schools and other services are in Litchfield, Ravenna and Loup City. Hazard is on Central Time.

History

A post office named Bentora, for the Bent family, opened here in 1882. When the Grand Island & Wyoming Central, a Burlington line, reached the site in 1886, a new name was needed; Bunnell was taken, and when no one could agree, one settler offered to “hazard some name,” and Hazard it became. The village counted 167 people in 1920, its highest census figure. Richard Marx said he picked the name for his 1992 hit “Hazard” from a list of two-syllable Nebraska town names; the song’s story is fiction, and he reportedly came to Sherman County as grand marshal of its 1993 Fourth of July parade.

Highways and trails through Hazard

Route	One way	Other way
NE 2Through the village	Northwest to Litchfield and Mason City	Southeast to Ravenna and Grand Island
NE 10Meets NE 2 here	North to Loup City	South to Pleasanton and Kearney

Nearby towns

Litchfield	about 6 mi northwest	NE 2
Pleasanton	about 8 mi south	NE 10
Ravenna	about 10 mi east-southeast	NE 2
Rockville	about 13 mi east	NE 2 and NE 68
Loup City	about 14 mi north-northeast	NE 10
Mason City	about 15 mi northwest	NE 2
Ashton	about 18 mi northeast	NE 10 and NE 92
Kearney	about 27 mi south	NE 10
Grand Island	about 40 mi east-southeast	NE 2

Things to see

Litchfield, 6 miles northwest · Loup City and the reservoir to the north

Schools and health care

Schools: No school in the village; Litchfield Public Schools, (308) 446-2244, and Ravenna are the nearest

Health care: Nearest clinic: VCHS Medical Clinic – Loup City, 130 N. 6th St., (308) 745-0324, about 14 mi; hospitals in Kearney

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Nebraska Who's Who (1940) county history; 1890–91 Nebraska State Gazetteer; NEGenWeb Sherman County (place names, after Fitzpatrick and Perkey); Sherman County and City of Loup City; History Nebraska (markers); National Register listings; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Nebraska Game and Parks; NEBRASKAland; Valley County Health System; SchoolDigger; Nebraska Secretary of State; KOLN 10/11; Fox Nebraska; Rural Radio Network. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.