Central Hastings Historic District

Many of the oldest houses here went up in a boom. The district's 2003 National Register nomination estimates that about 700 homes were built in Hastings between 1884 and 1887, many large frame houses for land speculators and moneylenders. In early 1887 land transfers ran $50,000 to $100,000 a day, and lots that sold for $300 to $500 in February brought $1,200 to $1,800 by June. In July the boom ended and prices fell by as much as 75 percent. A Queen City Land Company booklet of 1891 pictured fourteen houses that still stand here.

What the plaque says

Central Hastings Historic District The Central Hastings Historic District began at this site in 1878 when Samuel Alexander, using his 160-acre homestead, created the first northern addition to Hastings. This National Register district physically documents the three major periods of growth that occurred in Hastings from 1880 through 1950. It extends approxi- mately from 7th Street north to 12th Street and from Colorado Avenue west to Bellevue Avenue. The historic district includes 386 homes from the Victorian, Arts and Crafts, and Modern periods. Adams County Historical Society National Endowment For The Arts Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer — 20 mi
  Edward Durell Stone's island pavilion in Grand Island and an 1890s railroad town of moved buildings, among them the cottage where Henry Fonda was born in 1905.

More markers nearby

• Heartwell Park Historic District — 0.8 mi
• Hastings College Campus Historic District — 0.9 mi
• McCormick Hall — 0.9 mi
• Hastings Chautauqua Pavilion — 1.1 mi