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Historical News

By Various Authors

Historical News 1968-2021

Index of Titles

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$4.00 for each Issue

Adams County: The Story 1872-1972

By Dorothy Weyer Creigh

 The definitive history of the county, told chronologically and topically. Winner of the Award of Merit of the American Association for State and Local History.

1106 pages, 869 illustrations. Index, notes, tables, bibliography. Hard cover. 

$55.00

Adams County: The People 1872-1972

By Dorothy Weyer Creigh

Who's Who type biographies of more than 1,600 Adams County people. Great for genealogists.

312 pages, 17 picture. Indexed. Hard cover.

$7.50

Adams County, Nebraska: A Pictorial History

By Jeff O'Donnell

Take a trip back in time and travel the railroads and the streets of Adams County from its primary origins to the present day. Discover the county's earliest settlers and relive their challenges. Return to "The Great American Desert," where pioneers created and developed a strong community, full of pride and triumph. Experience the unique people and events that make Hastings known as "The Queen City of the Plains." This limited edition book is a commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the county from 1871-1996.

192 pages, 275 photographs.
Hard cover. 8 1/2" x 11 1/2"

$35.00

U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot

By Walt Miller

The U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, known locally as "the NAD", was the largest of the Navy's World War II inland munitions depots, occupying almost 49,000 acres of Adams and Clay County farmland.  Construction began in July 1942.  Loading, assembly, and storage of ordinance continued until final closing in June 1966.  By V-J Day in 1945, the NAD employed 10,000 military and civilian workers.  At one point during the war the NAD was producing nearly forty percent of the Navy's ordnance, including sixteen-inch shells.  Costing $71 million, the NAD had 207 miles of railroad tract, 274 miles of roads, and 2,200 buildings, including hundreds of igloo-shaped explosives storage magazines. The NAD embittered farmers whose land was taken by the government, but prduced an economic boom as Hastings' population jumped from 15,200 in 1942 to 23,000 in 1943. A September 1944 explosion killed nine workers, injured fifty-three, and left a 550-foot-crater. The blast was felt 100 miles away and shattered windows for miles around.

Paperback
147 pages
8 1/2" x 11"

$24.95

Naval Ammunition Depot, DVD

By Walt Miller

DVD

This brief historic sketch using photos, drawings and narration provides a glimpse into the 24-year life of the Naval Ammunition Depot at Hastings, Nebraska.

$22.00

Hastings: The Queen City of the Plains

By Monty McCord

Railroads were responsible for establishing many towns in Nebraska, including Hastings.  The location of the city was determined by the junction of two railroads, the Burlington and Missouri River, and the St. Joseph and Denver City.  Hastings was founded in 1872 and named after railroad construction engineer Major Delmonte Hastings.

Hastings:  The Queen City of the Plains includes over 200 photographs from the Adams County Historical Society and the author, Monty McCord.  You will see Heartwell Park, which was originally established as a private park by James B. Heartwell in 1886.  Other images show the Fisher Rainbow Fountain, one of the most identifiable landmarks in the city, located in front of the utilities building.  This book also showcases images of the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, which was built during World War II, and had a large impact on Hastings' development.

Author and historian Monty McCord is a member of the Adams County Historical Society Board of Directors.  A retired law enforcement officer, his published works include, Police Cars-A Photographic History, 1991; Cars of the State Police and Highway Patrol, 1994; and Law Enforcement Memorabilia, 1999.

128 pages, 200 photographs.
Paperback

$19.99

Then & Now: Hastings

 By Elizabeth H. Spilinek
 
Hastings, Nebraska was founded in 1872 on the open prairie at the intersection of two railroads.  It grew to become the "Queen City of the Plains", "Cigar-making Capital of Nebraska", "Birthplace of Kool-Aid", and the site of the largest inland Naval Ammunition Depot in America during World War II.  Author Elizabeth Spilinek, historical preservationist and president of the Adams County Historical Society, connects Hastings' past to its present through images from the society's archives and stories of the people who built this thriving community.

95 pages. Paperback

$21.99

Connections to the Past

By Elizabeth Spilinek

"Travel Back in Time" to 1872 when Hastings, Nebraska was founded on the open prairie at the intersection of two railroads.  See how Hastings then grew to become the "Queen City of the Plains" as the seat of Adams County government, the third largest rail center in Nebraska, an important brick manufacturing center, the "Cigar-making Capital of Nebraska", the "Birthplace of Kool-Aid" and the site of the largest inland Naval Ammunition Depot in the U.S. during WWII.

Historical photos and narrative depict the life and times of the citizens of Hastings, Nebraska during the Boom Town (1872-1880), Victorian (1880-1890), Arts and Crafts (1900-1930) and Modern (1940-1950) Periods.  Themes in U.S. and Nebraska history, from the Civil War until WWII, are touched on as experienced in the local setting of Hastings, Nebraska.

DVD

$15.00 Out of Stock

Kenesaw History in Pictures

Roseland, Nebraska 1887-1987

Centennial history of Roseland, Nebraska. Chapters include village history, schools, churches, and family histories.

464 Pages. Hard Cover.

$40.00

Fountain to Fountain Tour Book

By Elizabeth Spilinek

This tour booklet contains one main walking tour, the "Fountain to Fountain Tour", and five sub-tours. 

The "Fountain to Fountain Tour"  is a walking tour of 27 sites on Lincoln Avenue, which lie within the Central Hastings Historic District.  The Central Hastings Historic District is one of two residential areas in Hastings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); the other is the Heartwell Park Historic District.  The "Fountain to Fountain Tour" begins at the fountain in Alexander Park (corner of Lincoln and 7th Street) and ends in Highland Park at Fisher Rainbow Fountain . 

Five additional tours are included, all with connections to the sites on this Main Tour.

48 pages, full-color. Paperback.

$10.00

Adams County Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey

Survey of historic Adams County properties conducted in 1999.

8 1/2" x 11". Paperback.

$10.00

Entrepreneurs of Hastings

  By Jerri Reher Haussler

  Short Sketches of Some Nebraska Risktakers

 

  330 pages with Index.
  Paperback

  $24.95

The 1931 Hastings Bank Job

 By Monty McCord

In February 1931, "Mr. & Mrs. Robert Hendricks" and three others tied up fourteen employees at the Hastings National Bank and walked away with over $27,000 from the vault.  They then returned home to plan a robbery of the First National Bank for the following day.  Even though police quickly surrounded the house, the robbers managed to capture all eleven officers on the scene and make a getaway.  Retired police lieutenant and historian Monty McCord recounts the crime and the grisly aftermath in the first account of the heist ever to be published.

160 pages. Paperback

$19.99

Tales from the Prairie, Volume 1 & 2

By Dorothy Weyer Creigh

Reprints of stories originally published in Historical News, 1968-1970. Stories include accounts of street-cars, the lynching of Elizabeth Taylor, the Germans from Russia, the Immaculate Conception Academy, and the histories of several villages.

118 pages, 53 illustrations, preface, 101 stories in all. Paperback

$7.95 Out of Stock

Tales from the Prairie, Volume 3

By Dorothy Weyer Creigh 

Reprints an expansions of stories originally published in Historical News, 1974-1976. Stories include Prohibition, bootlegging, beauty shops, barber shops, ice cream parlors, Chautauqua.

224 pages, 116 illustrations, preface, appendices, 38 stories in all. Paperback

$7.95 

Tales from the Prairie, Volume 4

By Dorothy Weyer Creigh

Reprints and expansions of stories originally published in Historical News, 1977-1979. Stories include accounts of the French-Canadians, the Irish, the Black Masons, the brickyards, biographies of noted women, and early-day automobiles.

282 pages, 159 illustrations, index, preface, appendices, 30 stories in all. Paperback

$9.95 Out of Stock

The Life & Times of Mary Wikoff Oliver 1861-1896

By Julie Claydon

248 pages. Hastings history included in this biographical work.

To purchase this book, visit the author's website. 

Historic Structures Notecards