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Hastings, Nebraska

In November 1905, Georgia evangelist, Lincoln McConnell, conducted a series of revival meetings in Hastings. The meetings proved so popular that a group of local businessmen and the Reverend Hiram B. Harrison of the First Congregational Church formed the Hastings Chautauqua Association.

Summer Chautauqua assemblies brought music, religious and philosophical discussions, and literary readings to people who were relatively isolated from such cultural and educational advantages.

The success of the first Hastings Chautauqua assembly in 1906, resulted in the decision to build a permanent pavilion. Dedicated in July 1907, the pavilion is a unique octagonal structure with open sides except where walls enclose a stage and choir area. Capable of seating 3,500 people, the pavilion was the largest in the state.

National Register of Historic Places

Attractions and Upcoming Events

The Stein Building

For more than 30 years after the turn of the century, the Stein Brothers Store provided quality merchandise from all over the world to south central Nebraska shoppers. Located at 620 West Second Street, the Stein building was easily identifiable by the unique lion'

Hastings, NE National Register

The Kool-Aid Birth Place

This building is known locally as the birthplace of Kool-Aid. More accurately, it was the home of the Perkins Products Company, the manufacturing and retail enterprise of Kool-Aid inventor Edwin E. Perkins and his family. The company was housed here from 1923 until 1931

Hastings, NE Famous Homes

The Strand Theatre

Studded in bright lights, the Strand Theatre marquee heralded first-run showings of such movie classics as "From Here to Eternity" and "The sound of Music." For almost seventy years the Strand was the grand dame of motion picture entertainment in Hastings. The Strand'

Hastings, NE Theatres

Nebraska Loan and Trust Company

Cities and agricultural areas need capital to finance growth. Nebraska Loan and Trust Company, organized in 1882 with James B. Heartwell as need in Hastings by providing a means for Eastern Capitalists to invest in Nebraska real estate mortgages. In 1883-84

Hastings, NE National Register

The City Auditorium

Well-known buildings are usually notable for their architectural size or history. That is certainly the case of the City Auditorium, constructed between 1922 and 1924 at a cost of nearly $130,000. City fathers originally

Hastings, NE Architecture

Things to do near Hastings, NE

Fisher Fountain

Popular local attraction with ever changing computerized nightly displays of illuminated water....

100th Meridian Museum

Carnegie Public Library Building

Fort McPherson National Cemetery

William H. Faling House