About Hazard
Hazard is a village in Sherman County, Nebraska. The 2020 census recorded 57 residents on about 0.25 square miles. Litchfield is roughly five miles north-west, Ravenna about nine and a half miles south-east, and Loup City about fourteen miles north-east. The ZIP code is 68844, and the post office dates to 1887.
History
The village dates to 1886, when the Grand Island and Wyoming Central Railroad was extended to the site. The railroad picked the spot, and the nearby settlement of Bentora moved to it. The name came from the tracks themselves. Soft, swampy ground there forced trains to slow, and engineers marked their logs with the word Hazard as a warning to others unfamiliar with the route. At the peak, main street held a depot, two banks, three grocery stores, two cafes, a hotel, a hardware store, a drugstore, a telephone office and an opera house. More than 240 people lived here then. About 84 remained at the 1986 centennial.
The song
Richard Marx released a single called Hazard in January 1992. He had asked the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for a list of two-syllable Nebraska town names and picked this one. In 1993 the community invited him to serve as grand marshal of the Sherman County Fourth of July parade, and he accepted.
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Hazard is a small village in western Sherman County, Nebraska, founded in 1886 as a railroad town along the Grand Island & Wyoming Central line. It is best known outside the region for a 1990s pop song bearing its name, an association the village embraced by hosting the artist as parade Grand Marshal in 1993.
Hazard is one of Nebraska's smallest incorporated villages, with under 60 residents, notable chiefly for its unusual namesake connection to a well-known pop song rather than for size or economic significance.
Navigate & Explore Hazard
Get directions: search "Hazard Nebraska" in Waze or Google Maps
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Sherman County County Cameras: View Sherman County County cameras