Hastings is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Wetzel County,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, United States. It lies at an elevation of 755 feet (230 m).

History

Hastings was established as a

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

by the Hope Natural Gas Company in the early part of the 20th century. With a population of several hundred people who lived in as many as fifty company houses, the community also had a church, a school, a company store, an athletic field, a post office, and a community hall. The community had indoor athletic facilities for basketball, table tennis and billiards, and it also served as a theater. A hotel in the community was used by company employees who traveled to the site to perform maintenance and other tasks. Hastings was named for Dennis Hastings, the first superintendent of the original

natural gas processing Natural-gas processing is a range of industrial processes designed to purify raw natural gas by removing impurities, contaminants and higher molecular mass hydrocarbons to produce what is known as ''pipeline quality'' dry natural gas. Natural gas ...

plant on site. It was a thriving community into the late 1960s when they baby boomers began to graduate from high school and their parents and grandparents began retiring and moving away. Nowadays it is a virtual

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

with only two company houses remaining. During the 1920s and 1930s the company fielded a baseball team that travelled around the Ohio Valley and also played home games in Hastings. Entertainment being at a premium, the Sunday afternoon games were attended by hundreds of people as the field was located adjacent to the railroad tracks. Future major leaguer

Floyd Giebell Floyd George Giebell (December 10, 1909 – April 28, 2004) was an American baseball player who is best remembered as the pitcher who, in his third career start, shut out Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians to clinch the 1940 American League p ...

pitched here prior to becoming a Detroit Tiger in the late 1930s. Former residents of Hastings returned to the area for reunions well into the 1980s after which time they became too few and too elderly to maintain the tradition. After undergoing a long series of name changes, from Hope Natural Gas Company to Consolidated Gas Supply Corporation and finally to CNG, the company was acquired by Dominion Resources of Virginia in 2000. Dominion continues to operate a natural gas processing site and a group of loading stations at Hastings and at Galmish three miles downstream.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Hastings has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Hastings, West Virginia
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References

Unincorporated communities in Wetzel County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia {{WetzelCountyWV-geo-stub