Central City is a city and the county seat of Merrick County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Grand Island metropolitan area. The po…Central City is a city and the county seat of Merrick County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Grand Island metropolitan area. The population was 3,039 at the 2020 census. The inhabitants just prior to the establishment of Lone Tree (Central City) were the Pawnee people. In the late 1700s, the Chaui had a village on the current location of Central City. An account that an old Chaui man gave to Major Frank North in 1875 about a battle that took place between two divisions of the Pawnee in the late 1700s illustrates the political complexities of the early inhabitants of what would come to be Central City.