Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Willow Island, NE

Willow Island is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in western Dawson County in south-central Nebraska, with no municipal government of its own.

The community takes its name from a nearby island in the Platte River where willow trees grew in abundance, and it began as a Union Pacific Railroad stop — its station was already being photographed by 1867.

Because the settlement was known by two names, Willow and Willow Island, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names ruled in 1902 that the official name is "Willow Island."

A post office was established at Willow Island in 1874 and served the community until it was discontinued in 1991, and the townsite itself was laid out in the 1880s.

Willow Island lies along U.S. Route 30 near Interstate 80, between the cities of Cozad and Gothenburg and about 19 miles northwest of Lexington, the Dawson County seat.

The 2020 census counted just 25 residents across the CDP's 2.81 square miles — fewer than nine people per square mile — compared with 26 residents in 2010.

Willow Island is Dawson County's only census-designated place, its territory is split between the Gothenburg Public Schools and Cozad Community Schools districts, and the East Willow Island State Wildlife Management Area lies in the surrounding Platte River valley.