Cozad Nebraska

Cozad is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, founded in 1873 by John Jackson Cozad, a former professional gambler who moved west to develop a townsite along the new Union Pacific line after a violent past that included killing a man in an East Coast card game. The city sits directly on the 100th meridian — the traditional dividing line between the humid eastern United States and the arid West — marked with a roadside sign just west of downtown. Cozad's core commercial district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Cozad Downtown Historic District, includes the 1879 Hendee Hotel (now home to the Robert Henri Museum), the 1906 Allen's Opera House, and the 1890 Atkinson Building. The city was also on the original 1910s–20s alignment of the Lincoln Highway, which ran directly through downtown until a 1926 reroute. Cozad's most famous native is Robert Henri, the influential Ashcan School painter who grew up there as a boy after his family relocated under a changed surname. With a population of 3,988 (2020 census), Cozad remains one of Dawson County's three incorporated cities, reached via US Route 30, Nebraska Highway 21, and Interstate 80's Exit 222.

Cozad was founded in 1873 by John Jackson Cozad, a former professional gambler turned town developer, and sits directly on the 100th meridian. Its NRHP-listed downtown includes the Robert Henri Museum, honoring the Ashcan School painter who grew up there. Population was 3,988 in 2020.