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is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 24,064 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. Hastings is home to Hastings College, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927, and celebrates that event with Kool-Aid Days the second weekend of every August. Hastings is also home to Fisher Fountain, and during World War II operated the largest Naval Ammunition Depot in the United States. Hastings is also the birthplace of Neal Hefti and former University of Nebraska football coach and Congressman Tom Osborne. A National Weather Service Forecast Office is located there, serving central and south-central Nebraska and six counties in north-central Kansas. On June, 24 of 2007 Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition.
Hastings is the principal city of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Adams and Clay counties.
Hastings contains several elementary schools. The largest public elementary is Longfellow. Others are Hawthorne, Watson, Alcott, Morton, and Lincoln.
There is a new middle school that opened in the fall of 2008.The high schools are Hastings High School (public) and St. Cecilia's (Catholic). Just outside of town is Adams Central Jr./Sr. High(public rural). All of these schools score above the national average in the SAT.
Central Community College, a 2-year technical college, began serving students in 1966 and occupies the site of the old Naval Ammunition Depot.
Hastings College, the alma mater of former U.S. Congressman and current University of Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne, is a private liberal arts college located in Hastings.