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Take Hwy. 61 NW to the Twin Cities area. |
Hastings and Miesville, Minnesota |
Take Hwy 61 south to Red Wing, MN or Take Hwy. 61 & 10 East to Prescott, WI |
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A
natural harbor in the river 10 miles south of St. Paul led to the founding of
Hastings. This town is a
charming old river port at the convergence of the Saint Croix
and Mississippi rivers in Dakota County. Its entire downtown is listed
on the National Register of Historic Places. The town celebrates its historic footing with
the Front Porch Festival in May, Rivertown Days in July, and the Main Street Festival in
September. The Sioux or Dakota Indians named the area Owobopte, or "The place where the tipsinna grow." The Indians, who lived nearby, often visited the Vermillion River on fishing expeditions and traveled to higher ground along the Mississippi to gather Tipsinna, or turnips, for the winter. Many white explorers passed by the site of the future city of Hastings, but the first record of anyone visiting the spot was in 1805 by Lt. Zebulon Pike. Pike was sent by the U.S. Government to visit the Indian tribes of the Upper Mississippi and drive out British traders. In 1819, U.S. Army Lt. W. G. Oliver and his troop of nine men, were on their way upriver bringing supplies to the new Fort Snelling. They were stranded here for the winter in log cabins they built, when they encounters freezing water and bad weather. For the next 34 years, Owobopte was known as Oliver's Grove. The name was later shortened to Olive Grove. In 1850 Alexis Bailly and his son, Henry were the first American settler in Hastings. They obtained government approval for a trading post on the west side of the Mississippi River in Indian territory. Henry was sent here at the request of his father to keep hold of the proposed site and be ready on the spot as the first claimant. He opened up the Old Buckhorn trading post and kept enough calicos and trinkets to trade with the Indians to keep his license. Alexis and Henry Bailly, along with their friends Henry Sibley, and Alexander Faribault believed the territory would soon open to settlement. A year later, as anticipated, a treaty was signed. The group commenced to plat the future city of Hastings. William LeDuc later bought out Faribault. Bailly's cabin became the city’s first hotel and tavern, the Buckhorn. At the Buckhorn the group of four placed suggested town names in a hat. After indecisive votes they agreed on Hastings, Henry Sibley's middle name. Nobody knows exactly what the other three suggestions were. The future town of Hastings was platted in 1853 and in 1857, Hastings incorporated as a city. Selection of the Hastings site was not by chance. The location offered excellent access to the Mississippi River landing for steamboats and a good crossing point for a future ferry or bridge. The terrain rose gradually from the river with timber, limestone outcroppings, and beds of clay for constructing buildings. To the west and south lay rich farmland along the Vermillion River trail. The Vermillion River crossed through Hastings dropping 100 feet in a series of rapids and falls promising ample water power to turn mill wheels and stones. One unique piece of Hastings’ history involves the Spiral Bridge. The town, being right on the Mississippi’s banks, suited steamships just fine. But farmers from outlying areas had a hard time getting their wagons by rope ferry across the river. In the late 19th century, an unknown designer came up with the ingenious idea of a spiral bridge. High enough to clear steamship smokestacks, its spiraling ramp brought travelers down into the heart of the city, instead of overshooting it as would ordinary spans. The Spiral Bridge carried horse and engine powered traffic for over fifty years. Eventually deemed unsuitable for automobile traffic, the bridge was torn down and replaced with a straight bridge in 1951. Many claimed they designed it. Many travelers went out of their way to cross over it. A monument marks its crossing today. Many homes and buildings here reflect its days as a booming steamboat port. A good place to start a tour of Hastings’ historic buildings is on Second Street, down by the riverfront. There are many fine old homes built in the Italianate, Greek Revival, and Second Empire styles popular from the 1850s to 1870s line the street. Arched windows, ornamental brickwork, and decorative cornices grace the many late-19th-century commercial buildings. The grandiose, four-towered Dakota County Courthouse is the biggest downtown eye-catcher. Vermillion Falls Park and riverfront trails offer a change of scenery. Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce Settled in 1854, Miesville was first known as Douglas. Later it was renamed in honor of John Mies, who settled here in 1874 and built a hotel and saloon. |
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