Sidney is the county seat of Cheyenne County, in the Nebraska panhandle about nine miles north of the Colorado state line. The Union Pacific founded the city in 1867 and named it for Sidney Dillon. It grew up around the Sidney Barracks, a military post whose job was to protect the railroad track layers, which was moved in 1869 and renamed Fort Sidney in 1870. In the 1870s the fort became the initial supply depot on the 267 mile Sidney to Black Hills trail, the route that carried military and civilian traffic toward Fort Robinson, the Red Cloud Indian Agency and the Deadwood gold fields.

By 1875 the post had quarters for three companies, five officers’ quarters, a hospital, guardhouse, bakery, laundry and stables. Captain Walter Reed served there as post surgeon from 1882 to 1884. The Fort Sidney Museum and the Post Commander’s Home are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, admission free, with tours available. Sidney also has one of the Old West Boot Hill cemeteries; many of those buried there were soldiers from the fort.

Farming and ranching carried the town after the boom years, and in 1949 the first successful oil well in western Nebraska was drilled north of Sidney. Cabela’s was headquartered here until Bass Pro Shops acquired it in 2017; roughly 2,000 area jobs went with the move, and the campus stood mostly vacant until a local buyer took it over in 2025. Around 124 new businesses have opened and stayed open in Cheyenne County since the closure. Sidney stands at the junction of U.S. Route 385 and Interstate 80, and the 2020 census recorded 6,410 residents.

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