Hastings Downtown District Added to National Register of Historic Places

We’re pleased to announce that the Hastings Downtown Historic District has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places!

History Nebraska is pleased to announce that the Hastings Downtown Historic District has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The district, encompassing an area roughly between West 3rd Street, North Colorado Avenue, North Burlington Avenue, and the Burlington Northern railroad tracks, contains 103 contributing buildings including six buildings currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These properties are a good example of the commercial development of Hastings between 1880 to 1968. These dates coincide with the construction of the earliest existing buildings to within 50 years from the present, which is the requirement of a National Register listing.

Like many Nebraska communities, the Hastings downtown district was highly influenced by agriculture and the railroad. During the 1910s and 1920s, the original route of the Lincoln Highway passed through downtown Hastings and greatly influenced its development until the highway was rerouted in 1926.

The district contains an intact collection of late-19th century to early-to-mid-20th-century commercial buildings that reflect nearly 90 years of commercial development in Hastings.
The Hastings downtown district listing is the 19th listing in the National Register of Historic Places from Adams County.

The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s inventory of properties deemed worthy of preservation.  It is part of a national program to coordinate and support local and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect the nation’s historical and archeological resources.  The National Register was developed to recognize historic places and their role in contributing to our country’s heritage. Properties listed in the National Register either individually or as contributing to a historic district are eligible for State and Federal tax incentives. For more information on the National Register program in Nebraska, contact the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office at the History Nebraska at (402) 471-4775 or visit history.nebraska.gov/historic-preservation.

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