Visionary business people, generous citizens, and responsive government, all have made their contributions to the establishment and growth of Hastings. Read below for detailed information about the history of Hastings and how it grew into the great community it is today.
Three gentlemen named Dibble, Kingsbury, and Kendall purchased the 480-acre town-site from Detroit banker Eurotas P. Hastings for $3,000.
Hastings Township organized and Supervisor Slocum H Bunker was elected.
Hastings designated the County Seat of Barry County by the state legislature.
Population grows enough to warrant stagecoach service begins, connecting Hastings with Grand Rapids and Battle Creek.
The local Democratic journal, the Barry County Pioneer, was first printed.
Hastings was incorporated as a village.
A.W. Bailey named first Village President in first election.
A total of 1,632 men from a county population of 15,000 served in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. A 100-ton monument to them, topped by the figure of a Union soldier, now stands at the entrance to Tyden Park.
The first railroad train chuffed into town. Although rail service ended in the 1970’s, the old train station still stands and currently serves as an office building.
Hastings was incorporated as a City.
Henry A. Goodyear was the first elected Mayor of the City of Hastings.
The impressive Barry County Courthouse, which dominates the downtown, and its annex, were built. It is one of only a handful of Michigan’s 19th century public buildings still serving their original purposes.
New school buildings were constructed in Hastings.
As air travel became commonplace, a city airport was constructed and operational.
