Crawl Space Repair Hastings, NE

Hastings was created 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, which constructed a line from Hastings to Grand Island. The area was formerly open plain: the Donner party went through on its way to California in 1846 and a pioneer cemetery marker in Hastings has an inscription obtained from Tamsen Donner’s journal: “The country between the Blue and the Platte is stunning beyond compare. Never have I seen so varied a country so suitable to cultivation.” In the 1870s, railroads attracted European immigrants to the new state of Nebraska with ads. Hastings’ first settlers had been English, from Liverpool, and were immediately joined by other English, Irish, Germans, Danes, and Germans from Russia.

Nowadays, Heartwell Park and Central Hastings, a couple of the oldest neighborhoods, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Hastings Symphony Orchestra performs in the Chautauqua Pavilion, constructed in 1907 and on the National Register of Historic Places, while the Hastings Community Theatre performs in the auditorium of the original Spencer Park School, constructed during the housing shortage of the 1940s. The city has modified a number of its historic buildings for new uses. Central Community College is located in buildings of the former Naval Ammunition Depot. Lincoln Elementary School, constructed in 1912, is now law enforcement headquarters. The Clarke Hotel, constructed in 1914 and also on the National Register of Historic Places, is now the Kensington, a house for elderly people. Spencer Park, an 840-unit “village” created to house workers in the 1940s, is now Good Samaritan Retirement Village.