A History Nebraska marker at the former main gate on S. Technical Boulevard in Hastings tells the story of the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot, the largest of the Navy’s World War II inland munitions depots. Built from July 1942 on nearly 49,000 acres of Adams and Clay County farmland, it had about 2,200 buildings, 207 miles of railroad and hundreds of earth-covered magazines; about 10,000 people worked there by V-J Day, and an explosion in September 1944 killed nine. It closed in 1966. The grounds now hold Central Community College, the Nebraska National Guard and industry. The Hastings Museum has depot exhibits, and the Adams County Historical Society arranges tours.