GRAND ISLAND

city, seat of Hall county, southeast-central Nebraska, U.S. The town's name comes from an island in the nearby Platte River called La Grande le by early French-Canadian trappers. The island was a landmark for travelers on the route west to Utah, Oregon, and California. A German settlement had been established near the river in 1857, but the present town was laid out 5 miles (8 km) north in 1866 in order that it lie on the Union Pacific Railroad, which was subsequently crossed by what is now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line. The city of Grand Island has developed as a trade and transportation centre for an irrigated farming and livestock-raising region. Corn (maize) and sugar beets are the area's most important crops. One of the first beet-sugar plants in the country was located there. Other industrial and commercial operations in Grand Island include meat-packing, insurance and banking, and the production of feed, farm equipment, recreational vehicles, manufactured homes, and plastics. The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer is situated at the edge of the city and has a reconstructed railroad town of the 1880s on its grounds. Stolley State Park is nearby. Inc. 1873. Pop. (1960) 25,742; (1990) 39,487; (1994 est.) 41,147.