Hastings is a city in and the
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
of
Adams CountyAdams County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of July 1, 2006, the population estimate was 33,185. Its name is in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...
,
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 24,064 at the 2000 census. It is the
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
of
Adams CountyAdams County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of July 1, 2006, the population estimate was 33,185. Its name is in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...
. Hastings is home to
Hastings CollegeHastings College is a private, undergraduate, four-year, residential liberal arts college in Hastings, Nebraska, USA.- History :The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college dedicated to high academic and cultural standards.- Campus :The...
, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882. It is known as the town where
Kool-AidKool-Aid is a brand of flavored drink mix owned by the Kraft Foods Company.-Invention and production:Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins and his wife Kitty in Hastings, Nebraska, United States. All of his experiments took place in his mother's kitchen..Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate...
was invented by
Edwin PerkinsEdwin Elijah Perkins , born in Lewis, Iowa, U.S., invented the powder drink mix Kool-Aid in 1927 in Hastings, Nebraska after his family had moved there from Iowa in 1893....
in 1927, and celebrates that event with
Kool-Aid Days the second weekend of every August.
Hastings is a city in and the
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
of
Adams CountyAdams County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of July 1, 2006, the population estimate was 33,185. Its name is in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...
,
NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 24,064 at the 2000 census. It is the
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
of
Adams CountyAdams County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of July 1, 2006, the population estimate was 33,185. Its name is in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...
. Hastings is home to
Hastings CollegeHastings College is a private, undergraduate, four-year, residential liberal arts college in Hastings, Nebraska, USA.- History :The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college dedicated to high academic and cultural standards.- Campus :The...
, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882. It is known as the town where
Kool-AidKool-Aid is a brand of flavored drink mix owned by the Kraft Foods Company.-Invention and production:Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins and his wife Kitty in Hastings, Nebraska, United States. All of his experiments took place in his mother's kitchen..Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate...
was invented by
Edwin PerkinsEdwin Elijah Perkins , born in Lewis, Iowa, U.S., invented the powder drink mix Kool-Aid in 1927 in Hastings, Nebraska after his family had moved there from Iowa in 1893....
in 1927, and celebrates that event with
Kool-Aid Days the second weekend of every August. Hastings is also home to Fisher Fountain, and during World War II operated the largest
Naval Ammunition DepotThe Naval Ammunition Depot was the largest United States World War II naval munitions plant operating from 1942 to 1946. Construction began in July, 1942 near Hastings, Nebraska and was completed in early 1943 with over 2000 structures including buildings, bunkers, and various other types of...
in the United States. Hastings is also the birthplace of
Neal HeftiNeal Hefti was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme music for the Batman television series of the 1960s, and for scoring the 1968 film The Odd Couple and the subsequent TV series of the same name.He began arranging...
and former University of Nebraska football coach and
CongressmanThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Tom Osborne. A
National Weather ServiceThe National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
Forecast Office is located there, serving central and south-central Nebraska and six counties in north-central
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
. On June, 24 of 2007 Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition.
Hastings is the principal city of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Adams and
ClayClay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of 2000, the population was 7,039. Its name is in honor of Henry Clay, famous American statesman, member of the United States Senate from Kentucky and United States Secretary of State in the 19th century...
counties.
Education
Hastings contains several elementary schools. The largest public elementary is Longfellow. Others are Hawthorne, Watson, Alcott, Morton, and Lincoln. Zion Lutheran serves students in grades K-8th.
There is a new middle school that opened in the fall of 2008.The high schools are Hastings High School (public) and St. Cecilia's (Catholic). Just outside of town is Adams Central Jr./Sr. High(public rural). All of these schools score above the national average in the SAT.
Central Community College, a 2-year technical college, began serving students in 1966 and occupies the site of the old Naval Ammunition Depot.
Hastings College, the alma mater of former U.S. Congressman and current University of Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, is a private liberal arts college located in Hastings.
Transportation
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971 to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a blend of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union Station...
, the national passenger rail system, provides service through Hastings, operating its
California ZephyrThe California Zephyr is a 2,438-mile long passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Western United States....
daily in each direction between
ChicagoUnion Station is a Chicago train station that opened in 1925, replacing an earlier 1881 station, and is now the only intercity rail terminal in Chicago. Union Station was built on the west side of the Chicago River and stands between Adams Street and Jackson Street...
and
Emeryville, CaliforniaEmeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and...
, across the bay from San Francisco.
Hastings is served by major automobile routes, including east-west
U.S. Highways 6U.S. Route 6, also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, after the veterans association of the same name, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system, running east-northeast from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Until 1964, it continued south from Bishop to Long Beach,...
&
34U.S. Route 34 is an east-west United States highway that runs for 1,122 miles from the western suburbs of Chicago to north-central Colorado. Through Rocky Mountain National Park it is known as the Trail Ridge Road where it reaches 12,183 ft , making it the highest paved through highway in the...
, north-south
U.S. Highway 281U.S. Highway 281 is a north-south United States highway. It is 1,872 miles long and is currently the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route....
. Hastings is about 14 miles south of U.S.
Interstate 80Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States . It connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I-80 is the interstate that most closely approximates the route of the Lincoln Highway, the first auto trail to cross the...
Geography
Hastings is located at (40.589293, -98.391689).
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the city has a total area of 10.0 square miles (25.8 km²), of which, 9.8 square miles (25.5 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (1.31%) is water.
Demography
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 24,064 people, 9,610 households, and 5,948 families residing in the city. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 2,448.5 people per square mile (945.2/km²). There were 10,333 housing units at an average density of 1,051.4/sq mi (405.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.39% White, 0.79% African American, 0.42% Native American, 2.02% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.39% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.58% of the population.
There were 9,610 households out of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 12.8% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,461, and the median income for a family was $44,688. Males had a median income of $29,633 versus $21,262 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the city was $17,941. About 5.6% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.
Fisher Fountain
The Jacob Fisher Rainbow Fountain is the largest water fountain between Chicago and Denver and is located in the Highland Park of Hastings, NE. The fountain was considered a "sign of hope" for the town during the Great Depression and dust bowl.
Fisher Fountain was originally meant to be a temporary exhibit at the 1932 Adams County Fair, but was made permanent because of its popularity. The fountain was relocated to Highland Park in 1933.
The fountain's name was developed by school children during a contest held by the town. The two winning essays were combined to create the fountain's permanent name. Jacob Fisher was the mayor of Hastings when the Highland Park was first developed. The "Rainbow Fountain" describes intricate lighting of continuously changing arrays of water jets (which reach heights of 67 feet). It is called the "Rainbow Fountain" because the water changes to various colors (green, yellow, orange, red, pinkish-purple, and blue).
In early July 1984, Fisher Fountain was the target of brutal vandalism and blown up with dynamite. Its destruction aroused a strong community response. Many members of the town volunteered their time and quickly rebuilt the fountain. In defiance of the vandals, the Fisher Fountain was rebuilt to the exact specifications of the original and boasts no security besides a waist-high wrought iron fence. There is a simple plaque describing the attack and subsequent community efforts on the side of the fountain's pump house.
Naval Ammunition Depot
During World War II the Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD) was the largest of four munitions depots in the country and was known for producing nearly 40 percent of the Navy's ammunition supply at one point during WWII. Igloo-shaped, earth covered mounds still line U.S. Highway 6 for a distance of over four miles. The Depot included over 2000 structures, and encompassed 48,753 acres. A blast on September 15, 1944, ascribed to human error (thought to be caused by someone illegally smoking in one of the "igloo" shaped storage facilities), killed nine people and injured 53. The blast was so bright that it could be seen from the nearby town of Doniphan (11 miles north of Hastings). During the Vietnam War, a portion of the NAD was turned over to the Air Force. This became a radar bomb scoring detachment that helped train pilots in electronic bombing techniques that were used in southeast Asia. The land now houses the Central Community College, a Department of Agriculture Meat Animal Research Center, an industrial park, golf course and training facilities for National Guardsmen and Reservists.
External links