Hastings, Nebraska

== History == === Settlement === Hastings was founded in 1872 at the intersection of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad and the St.

The city was incorporated in April 1874, and in September 1878, after a five-year county seat war, the county seat was transferred to Hastings from Juniata.

However, a fire in 1879 destroyed 33 buildings downtown.

The city was rebuilt between 1880 and 1890 in fireproof materials and in a more planned fashion, with characteristically ornate Victorian buildings, many designed by Charles C.

Hastings College is a private liberal arts college, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), and founded in 1882.

=== 20th Century === Hastings saw renewed growth from 1900 to 1930, which is reflected by buildings in the Craftsman, Prairie, Colonial Revival, and American Foursquare styles.

Hastings had four brickyards and in 1911 was producing more bricks than any other city in Nebraska, and all the paving bricks.

Michael's Elementary School (formerly the Lincoln Elementary School building), built in 1912, is now the police headquarters.

The Clarke Hotel, built in 1914 and also on the National Register of Historic Places, is now the Kensington, a home for senior citizens.

The largest cigar factory, the Kipp Cigar Company, was by 1921 hand-rolling one-fifth of all cigars produced in Nebraska; in 1925 it produced half, a total of 10 million.

Albert Brooking, who founded the museum in 1926 and provided it with many exhibits, including Indian relics, fossils, and the largest private collection of mounted birds in the ...

Edwin Perkins invented Kool-Aid in Hastings in 1927; the town celebrates the invention with the Kool-Aid Days festival every August.

This period of expansion ended with the drought and agricultural depression of the 1890s; the town's population fell to 7,000 and would not reach 15,000 until 1930.

Perkins moved his production to Chicago in 1931 and Kool-Aid was sold to General Foods in 1953.

Fisher Fountain was originally a temporary exhibit at the 1932 Adams County Fair, called the Electric Fountain.

== Hastings Museum == The Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History is in an art deco building funded by $75,000 from the Works Progress Administration and completed in 1939.

The NAD also significantly increased the city's African American population, which went from 70 Black residents in 1940 to more than 1,000 by 1943.

In 1945 it employed 6,692 civilians in addition to 125 officers and 1,800 enlistees.

Once World War II ended, staff was reduced at the ammunition depot, bringing Hastings' last growth period to an end in 1950, and the depot eventually closed.

Central Community College, a two-year technical college, began serving students in 1966, and it occupies the site of the old Naval Ammunition Depot.

Fisher Fountain was renovated in 1982 but was then dynamited by vandals in 1984.

$63,000 was raised to rebuild it, and it was rededicated on Mother's Day in 1985.

In 2000, there were 200 African Americans living in Adams County, with almost all living in Hastings.

On June 24, 2007, Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition.

There was a new middle school that opened in the fall of 2008.

=== 2010 census === As of the census of 2010, there were 24,907 people, 10,110 households, and 6,160 families residing in the city.

The 2016-2020 5-year American Community Survey estimates show that the median household income was $52,747 (with a margin of error of +/- $3,112) and the median family income $7...

=== 2020 census === The 2020 United States census counted 25,152 people, 10,137 households, and 6,139 families in Hastings.

During World War II, Hastings operated the largest Naval Ammunition Depot in the United States, and for this reason was awarded the distinction of American World War II Heritage...