OUR HISTORY
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innovation to our community. Cozad owes much of its suc- cess to the hardworking farm and ranch businesses and families who are committed to feeding our nation and our world through agriculture and livestock production. Cozad is commit- ted to continued progress and development while offering ex- cellent quality of life to all within our local area. Today, the City of Cozad’s business district is included within a National Register His- toric District that was established in 2018. The district includes an interesting variety of architec- tural styles such as Italianate, Neo-Classical Revival, American and Mid-Century Modern. In all more than forty buildings are listed within the district which is roughly bounded by 9th Street to the north, 7th Street to the south, H Street to the west, and F Street to the east. In 2023 the down- town of the city was designated as a Creative District by the State of Nebraska in recogni- tion of its support of the arts and culture.
a business trip, Alfred Pearson confronted him about an unre- solved issue, and the argument ended with Cozad drawing his gun and shooting Mr. Pearson who died several weeks later. Cozad left town immediately leaving his wife Theresa to sell his property and other assets. She sewed the money in her skirts and in the coat pockets of her son, Robert, and they left the town in 1884. Changing their names, the Cozad family moved to Atlantic City. Robert changed his name to Robert Henri and ul- timately became a famous artist and teacher in New York City. In the early days, the Cozad area was primarily an agricultural community. Alfalfa, the Platte Valley’s green gold, became a dominant force in Cozad’s economy, earning the com- munity the title Alfalfa Capital of the World. When World War II ended, alfalfa dehydrating plants came to the Platte River Valley and agriculture and livestock production continued to flourish. New businesses came to Cozad bringing with them diversity and
Photos courtesy of the 100th Meridian Museum
Soon the railroad company erected a depot at Cozad and Cozad built a hotel and several other buildings to establish the town. Circulars extolling the mer- its of the new settlement were sent far and wide, especially to the states of Ohio and Indiana. By 1890, the new town boasted a population of more than five hundred. By the time the colonists were settled, along came the grass- hoppers and everything green was destroyed. The colonists tell the story of the hoppers eating the pitchfork, hoe and shovel handles as well. The vast majority of colonists gave up and returned east, leaving only five families behind. Though the grasshoppers, drought and hot winds continued over the years, the little colony never lost heart and Cozad built additional busi-
ness buildings and erected a school. John Cozad, while known as a haughty, and aloof man with a violent temper, spent thou- sands of dollars building a sod bridge across the Platte River to give the settlers work and to improve the chances for his town to succeed and connecting it to settlers to the south. Interest- ingly, when he needed funds, he would “seek out a Faro game” usually back East and was known once to make $50,000 gambling in Omaha between trains. A newspaper, The 100th Meridian, was published and its copies were sent far and wide throughout the nation, bringing people to settle in Cozad during the early years. On October 14, 1882, when John returned from Denver on
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