Editing Hastings, Nebraska (section)

==History==
===Settlement===
Hastings was founded in 1872 at the intersection of the [[Burlington and Missouri River Railroad]] and the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad. It was named for Colonel D. T. Hastings of the [[St. Joseph and Grand Island Railroad]], who was instrumental in building the railroad through Adams County.<ref>''A History of the Origin of the Place Names in Nine Northwestern States connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways'', 2nd ed. Chicago, 1908, {{OCLC|38707348}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q_lKAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11].</ref><ref>''Nebraska History'' 58 (1977) [https://books.google.com/books?id=4vI7AAAAIAAJ&q=Hastings.+Colonel+D.+T.+Hastings+of+the+Grand+Island+and+St.+Joseph+railroad+was+instrumental+in+bringing+the+railroad p. 539].</ref><ref>Elton Perkey, ''Perkey's Nebraska Place-Names'', Publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society 28, Lincoln: [[Nebraska State Historical Society]], 1982, {{OCLC|9488791}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VzQUAAAAYAAJ&q=Hastings.+Colonel+D.+T.+Hastings+of+the+Grand+Island+and+St.+Joseph+railroad+was+instrumental+in+bringing+the+railroad p. 2].</ref> The area was previously open plain: the [[Donner party]] passed through on its way to [[California]] in 1846 and a pioneer cemetery marker in Hastings bears an inscription taken from Tamsen Donner's journal: "The country between the Blue and the [[Platte River|Platte]] is beautiful beyond compare. Never have I seen so varied a country so suitable to cultivation."<ref name=spilinek />{{Rp|9}} In the 1870s, railroads lured European immigrants to the new state of Nebraska with advertisements. Hastings' first settlers were English, from [[Liverpool]], and were quickly joined by other English, Irish, Germans, Danes, and [[Volga Germans|Germans from Russia]].<ref name=spilinek />{{Rp|9}}

Between 1872 and 1880, when the population had grown to 2,800, Hastings was a boomtown. Settlers first built sod houses, dugouts, and shanties, then houses and stores. 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, Nebraska|Juniata]].<ref>Catherine Renschler, [http://www.adamshistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=42 Prairie to Prominence: Hastings' First 10 Years] at Adams County Historical Society, retrieved April 6, 2010.</ref> 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 architecture|Victorian buildings]], many designed by [[Charles C. Rittenhouse]], the first practicing architect in Adams County and also mayor for ten years.<ref name=architects>[http://www.adamshistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=42 Rittenhouse and Way: Architects of Hastings' First Half Century] at Adams County Historical Society, retrieved April 6, 2010.</ref> Thanks to the railroads, the city enjoyed great prosperity during the [[Gilded Age]]. The population grew to 13,500. 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.<ref name=spilinek />{{Rp|9}}

African Americans have lived in Hastings since the 1860s. In 1876, Horace G. Newsom started the first [[List of African-American newspapers in Nebraska|Black-owned newspaper in Nebraska]].<ref>Paz, D.G. (1996). "The Black Press and the Issues of Race, Politics, and Culture on the Great Plains of Nebraska, 1865-1985". In Suggs, Henry Lewis (ed.). ''The Black Press in the Middle West, 1865-1985.''</ref>

===20th Century===
Hastings saw renewed growth from 1900 to 1930, which is reflected by buildings in the [[American Craftsman|Craftsman]], [[Prairie School|Prairie]], [[Colonial Revival architecture|Colonial Revival]], and [[American Foursquare]] styles. The leading [[Arts and Crafts movement|Arts and Crafts]] architect was [[Claude W. Way]].<ref name=architects/> Hastings had four brickyards and in 1911 was producing more bricks than any other city in Nebraska,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adamshistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=36|title=Central Hastings Historic District|work=Adams County Historical Society|access-date=April 6, 2010}}</ref> and all the paving bricks.<ref name=villageprofile>{{cite web|author=Elizabeth Spilinek|url=http://www.villageprofile.com/nebraska/hastings/01/topic.html |title=History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420031455/http://www.villageprofile.com/nebraska/hastings/01/topic.html|archive-date=2010-04-20|work=Hastings, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce|year=2006|access-date=April 6, 2010}}</ref> During this period, the city also became known as the cigar-making capital of Nebraska. 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.<ref name=spilinek />{{Rp|72}}<ref>[http://www.adamshistory.org/index.php?Itemid=36&id=57&option=com_content&task=view Kipp Cigar Company] at Adams County Historical Society, retrieved April 4, 2010.</ref> Cigars lost their popularity to cigarettes between the two World Wars, and in the 1930s the [[Great Depression]] again brought the town's expansion to a halt.{{Citation needed|date = August 2014}}

[[File:Photograph with caption "'View Looking East on First Street in Hastings, Nebraska." - NARA - 283495.jpg|thumb|right|Looking east on First Street, circa 1944]]

In 1942, the Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD) was constructed, initiating explosive growth: Hastings' population grew from 15,000 to 23,000 in under a year and there was a critical shortage of housing, which prompted both alteration of existing housing stock and rapid construction of new neighborhoods.<ref name=spilinek />{{Rp|10}} 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.{{Citation needed|date = August 2014}} 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.<ref>[https://hastingsmuseum.org/vital-contributions-page-7/ "Women & the Naval Ammunition Depot,"] Hastings Museum. Retrieved December 28, 2022.</ref>

===Kool-Aid===
[[Kool-Aid]] was invented by [[Edwin Perkins (inventor)|Edwin Perkins]] in Hastings. All of his experiments took place in his mother's kitchen. Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack. To reduce shipping costs, in 1927, Perkins discovered a way to remove the liquid from Fruit Smack, leaving only a powder; this powder was named Kool-Aid. Perkins moved his production to [[Chicago]] in 1931 and Kool-Aid was sold to [[General Foods]] in 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hastingsmuseum.org/koolaid/kahistory.htm|title=History of Kool-Aid|publisher=Hastings Museum of Culture and History|access-date=May 16, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615160059/http://www.hastingsmuseum.org/koolaid/kahistory.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 15, 2008 }}</ref> Hastings still celebrates a yearly summer festival called Kool-Aid Days on the second weekend in August in honor of their city's claim to fame. Kool-Aid is known as [[Nebraska]]'s official [[soft drink]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/631464/Nebraska-takes-sweet-turn-names-Kool-Aid-state-drink.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114000829/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/631464/Nebraska-takes-sweet-turn-names-Kool-Aid-state-drink.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 14, 2012|work=Deseret News|title=Nebraska takes sweet turn, names Kool-Aid state drink|date=May 22, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.thefencepost.com/article/20110809/NEWS/110809900/1032&ParentProfile=1001 | work=The Fence Post | title=Nebraska's official soft drink celebrated at the 14th Annual Kool-Aid Days on Aug. 12-14 | first=Angela | last=Gustafson | date=August 9, 2011 | access-date=February 19, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526175356/http://www.thefencepost.com/article/20110809/NEWS/110809900/1032%26ParentProfile%3D1001 | archive-date=May 26, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===21st century===
Today, Heartwell Park and Central Hastings, two of the oldest neighborhoods, are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name=spilinek>{{cite book|title=Hastings: Then & Now|isbn=978-0-7385-6121-9|first=Elizabeth H|last=Spilinek|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]]|year=2009}}</ref>{{Rp|10}} The Hastings Symphony Orchestra performs in the [[Chautauqua Pavilion (Hastings, Nebraska)|Chautauqua Pavilion]], built in 1907 and on the National Register of Historic Places, while the Hastings Community Theatre performs in the auditorium of the former Spencer Park School, built during the housing shortage of the 1940s. The city has adapted several of its historic buildings to new uses. [[Central Community College (Nebraska)|Central Community College]] is housed in buildings of the former Naval Ammunition Depot. St. 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.<ref name=spilinek />{{Rp|10}} Spencer Park, an 840-unit "village" built to house workers in the 1940s, is now Good Samaritan Retirement Village.<ref name=villageprofile/>

In 2000, there were 200 African Americans living in Adams County, with almost all living in Hastings. According to the [[U.S. Census]], in 2022 African Americans comprise .6% of the city's population.<ref>[https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/hastingscitynebraska#qf-headnote-a "QuickFacts Hastings city, Nebraska"], US Census. Retrieved December 28, 2022.</ref>

On June 24, 2007, Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dawn Kawamoto|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9734074-7.html|title=Yahoo names greenest city in America|work=CNET news blog|date=June 25, 2007|access-date=4 April 2010}}</ref>