page_title: Hastings, Minnesota
hierarchical_section_title: Hastings, Minnesota
caption_attribution_description: English: taken by William Wesen
context_page_description: Hastings is a city in Dakota and Washington counties, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, near the confluence of the Mississippi, Vermillion, and St. Croix Rivers. Its population was 22,172 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dakota County, which contains most of it as well as a small part extending into Washington County along the north bank of the Mississippi River. It is named for the first elected governor of the state of Minnesota, Henry Hastings Sibley.
  The advantages of Hastings's location that led to its original growth are that it is well-drained, provides a good riverboat port, and is close to a hydropower resource at the falls of the Vermillion River. Other sites closer to the river confluence are either too swampy or too hilly.
  U.S. Highway 61 and Minnesota State Highways 55 and 316 are three of the main routes in Hastings.
context_section_description: Hastings is a city in Dakota and Washington counties, in the U.S. state of Minnesota, near the confluence of the Mississippi, Vermillion, and St. Croix Rivers. Its population was 22,172 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dakota County, which contains most of it as well as a small part extending into Washington County along the north bank of the Mississippi River. It is named for the first elected governor of the state of Minnesota, Henry Hastings Sibley.
  The advantages of Hastings's location that led to its original growth are that it is well-drained, provides a good riverboat port, and is close to a hydropower resource at the falls of the Vermillion River. Other sites closer to the river confluence are either too swampy (Dakota County) or too hilly (Washington County and Pierce County, Wisconsin).
  U.S. Highway 61 and Minnesota State Highways 55 and 316 are three of the main routes in Hastings.
caption: City Hall, originally the Dakota County Courthouse
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