Hastings is in
Barry County (of which it is the county seat), and in the
West-Southwest Region. You can locate this community southeast of Grand Rapids between
Grand Rapids and
Lansing along Highway 37 on the banks of the Thornapple River near Algonquin Lake and Thornapple Lake.
The area, originally inhabited by the Ojibway, Potawatomi and Ottawa tribes, because of its superb hunting, was eventually visited by white settlers in the early 1830s. Eurotas P. Hastings became the first owner of land here in 1836.
Today, Hastings has grown into a larger urban area with many businesses. It also shares significant commuter traffic to the major metropolitan areas.
