Readjustment Act, known as the G.I. Bill of Rights. This ushered in
sweeping changes to America’s colleges and universities by paying
for the tuition of World War II veterans and their spouses. With higher
education more accessible, college enrollment nearly doubled nationwide. Hastings College campus’s physical development is representative of its postwar increase in enrollment.
At Hastings College, enrollment doubled from 524 students in 1943 to 1,138 in 1946. Roughly half of students enrolled in 1946 were using the G.I. Bill. Such a large increase in the student population required a building campaign that expanded or modified much of the prewar campus fabric. Wooden structures were moved in from the nearby Naval Ammunition Depot to temporarily accommodate the increased enrollment. Eventually these were replaced by new permanent buildings. A number of buildings that make up the college’s modern configuration were built as a direct response to the effects of the G.I. Bill, including the French Memorial Chapel in 1948, Weyer Hall in 1950, and Fuhr Hall in 1956.
]]>McCormick Hall opened in 1884. It is named for Cyrus McCormick,
inventor of the mechanical reaper, who donated $5,000 to help finance
construction of the building. The first building on the Hastings College
campus, it was the intellectual, social, religious, and academic heart of
campus. McCormick first housed dormitories, classrooms, offices, and
a small chapel until most of these functions relocated to newer buildings.
In 1976 a devastating fire closed the building. Following its renovation,
McCormick Hall was reopened in 1982.
]]>Brickyards sprang up to supply brick for new buildings. Western Brick and Supply Company was established at this site in 1900, later adding a second yard on the east side of town. At their peak, the two sites employed upwards of 120 workers and produced twenty-four million bricks and tile each year.
In 1942 a fire destroyed the east yard. The facility here supplied brick for construction of the Naval Ammunition Depot southeast of Hastings. During WWII, German POWs worked in this yard. The brickyard at this site was destroyed by fire in 1946.
Western Brick continued operations at another facility purchased from Polenske Brothers-Schellak & Co. This 27-acre park was established by the City of Hastings in 1977. The smokestack, kiln, and clay pit serve as a reminder of Hastings’ role as an important brick-manufacturing center of Nebraska.
]]>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 approximately 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.
]]>In 1893 the Crystal Ice Company dammed a portion of the Little Blue River 1 1/4 miles north of Ayr, creating "Crystal Lake" for harvesting and selling ice. A huge storage and loading facility was built on the nearby Republican Valley branch of the Burlington Railroad. Horse-drawn scoring knives and long, back breaking ice saws, later replaced by power saws, cut the 16" thick ice into 9'2" squares, which were floated down a channel to be cut into twenty-five, 22" x 22" cakes. Ten thousand tons per season was the capacity. A large ice house was filled for the Hastings trade, and hundreds of carloads were sold to the railroad. This winter ice harvest provided a thirty-day income for as many as fifty workers. In the 1920s mechanical refrigeration ended the ice business and Crystal Lake became a private recreation area for picnics, dancing, swimming, boating, fishing, and skating. In 1937 the 63-acre site was purchased by the state and improved by the WPA. Silt eventually filled the lake, and in 1976 a $180,818 renovation of the lake and park was a project of the Ayr Bicentennial Committee. Crystal Lake State Recreation Area is part of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission system.
]]>The Kingston Cemetery is located on the hill just west of this marker. Founded in the early 1870s, the cemetery was the final resting place for nearly thirty of Kingston's early settlers. In 1887 the Kingston settlement was moved to the rail junction and renamed Pauline. The cemetery was later abandoned.
Just northeast of this marker is the site where John C. Fremont's party camped on June 25, 1842, while mapping the route known as the Oregon Trail.
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