The prairie that would become Grand Island had been populated by the Pawnee for around 700 years, living in communities of earth lodges. They cultivated 10 varieties of corn and hunted deer, hunting bison as well after Europeans introduced them to horses. Approximately 60,000 Pawnee lived throughout what would become the central United States in 1700, but disease brought from Europe soon decimated their numbers. They regularly had to defend their land against the Sioux and Cheyenne. Learn more by visiting Stuhr Museum.