[3] The inhabitants just prior to the establishment of Lone Tree (Central City) were the Pawnee people.

In the late 1700s, the Chaui (Cáwiiʾi) 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 (the Chaui, Pitahauerit, and Kitkehahki, jointly known as the Southern Pawnee, on one side; and the Skidi on the other) in the late 1700s illustrates the political complexities of the early inhabitants of what would come to be Central City.

The Chaui did not believe they were strong enough to attack the Skidi, so they held councils with two other Southern Pawnee bands and told them what happened.

The Skidi charged between the men hiding along the river and behind the sandhill ridge thinking that they were chasing buffalo; the Southern Pawnees attacked them there.

[6] The actual county seat was created in 1866 near the planned location of Elvira and renamed "Lone Tree".

Berryman built the first substantial building, which functioned as a general store, hotel, bar, courthouse,[7] revival meeting hall, and his home.

[6][8][9][10] In 1875 a petition was presented to the Merrick County Court requesting a name change for Lone Tree to "Central City".

Opponents to change countered that "Lone Tree" portrayed a "beautiful spot and is a name dear to the pioneers."

[8][9][10] The new name was meant to designate the city's key location within the state's agricultural belt.

[11] By the 1880s, Central City was a boomtown after the arrival of a second railroad, the Burlington & Missouri River.

During this time of peak growth, three banks were built, in addition to a hardware store, a roller mill, two newspapers, three lumberyards, a cracker factory, a cigar factory, a new brick school, nine churches, and Nebraska Central College, a Methodist institution which opened in 1885.

[8][9][10][12] The first newspaper in Central City was The Merrick County News, which published its first edition on March 21, 1872; it would become the Courier in 1874.

Two new newspapers opened: the Record in 1895 (which would close in 1908) and the Republican in 1896 (which would merge with the Nonpareil to form the current Republican-Nonpareil in 1953).

[6][8][9][10] The early 1900s saw the construction of a new courthouse (1911–1913), the historic Martha Ellen Auditorium (1916, earlier an opera house), and a new high school.

[15] Economic growth was aided in the 1920s by the opening of a branch of Omaha Cold Storage in 1927, allowing farmers to sell their poultry and eggs locally at better prices.

Central City is in east-central Merrick County, 2 miles (3 km) northwest of the Platte River.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Central City has a total area of 2.44 square miles (6.32 km2), all land.