Hastings, Nebraska

Hastings
	;
Location in county and state
Basic data
Foundation :	1872
State :	United States
State :	Nebraska
County :	Adams County
Coordinates :	40 ° 35 ′ N , 98 ° 23 ′ W Coordinates: 40 ° 35 ′ N , 98 ° 23 ′ W
Time zone :	Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Residents :	24,064 (as of: 2000)
Population density :	943.7 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	25.8 km 2 (approx. 10 mi 2 ) of; which 25.5 km 2 (approx. 10 mi 2 ) are land
Height :	1040 m
Postcodes :	68901, 68902
Area code :	+1 402
FIPS :	31-21415
GNIS ID :	0829848
Website :	www.cityofhastings.org
Mayor :	Corey mare

Hastings is a city and the county seat of Adams County in the US state of Nebraska.

history

The first house in Hastings was built in 1871, but the place was not considered established until a year later when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad reached Hastings. The city was named after Colonel Thomas D. Hastings, who worked for the St. Joseph & Denver Railroad and was instrumental in bringing the railroad lines together on the site of the present city, which led to rapid growth. The official registration took place in 1874.

After the Hastings Journal went to press in 1873 , the county seat was transferred from Juniata to Hastings in 1877 . At the end of the 1870s, the city, then with a population of 3,000, had three hotels. Many stone buildings were built in the 1980s as a fire in 1879 destroyed many of the wooden structures. The library and hospital were built in 1888. The rapid growth of the city is shown by an estimate towards the end of the 1880s, which set the population at over 12,000. The end of the century was marked by a period of drought that had a negative impact on Hastings' development. Both the grain and the planted fruit trees could not survive the drought, which destroyed the financial basis of many settlers. In 1897 the city therefore had only 7,180 inhabitants.

At the turn of the century the climate recovered and the development continued to develop positively. New buildings were built, such as a new Burlington & Missouri River Railroad depot (1902) or the new high school and post office (1904).

It was not until the Great Depression and a tornado on May 8, 1930, which caused damage amounting to millions, that the boom in Hastings stopped. At the beginning of the 30s of the twentieth century, which were again characterized by great heat and drought, there was practically no income from grain cultivation. The following decade was another turning point, as the city turned more to ammunition production in the course of the Second World War . The Naval Ammunition Depot was the largest in the United States and caused the population to grow from 15,000 to over 23,000 in just one year. After the war, the shopping center, a swimming pool as well as other shops and a television station were built (1955).

geography

Hastings is located in southern Nebraska on US Highways 6 , 34 and 281 . Amtrak's daily California Zephyr long-distance train from Chicago to Emeryville stops in Hastings. Hastings' geographical coordinates are 40 ° 35 ′ N , 98 ° 24 ′ W (40.589293, −98.391689) 40.589166666667 -98.391666666667

According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has an area of 25.8 km², of which 25.5 km² is land and 0.3 km² (= 1.31%) is water.

Demographics

According to the United States Census 2000 , Hastings has a population of 24,064, including 11,640 men and 12,424 women.

sons and daughters of the town

Gwen Lee (1904–1961), actress
Sandy Dennis (1937–1992), actress
Tom Osborne (* 1937), member of the US House of Representatives and longtime college football coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers
Ivan Sutherland (* 1938), pioneer of computer graphics, professor at Harvard University, vice president of Sun Microsystems

Others

Hastings is the place where the drink Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927.
Hastings' Historic District and Heartwell Park Historic District are on the National Register of Historic Places .

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