Birthplace of Kool-Aid
Hastings, Nebraska
Edwin Perkins didn't move to Hastings until he was 31, didn't invent Kool-Aid until seven years later, and then moved his company to Chicago four years after that. Which is a long way of saying that Kool-Aid's time in Hastings was brief. But it was born here nevertheless, and Hastings deserves recognition for it.
A plaque has been bolted next to the front door of the former Perkins Products Company, telling the Kool-Aid story. We noted that every window in the building, except for one on the second floor, was walled up with cement slabs. Did the early Kool-Aid leave behind a powerful flotsam, like a super-fruity asbestos?
There are many things Kool-Aid to see in Hastings, including the Kool-Aid museum and Kool-Aid Man's footprints in cement. But for those who want to stand really, really close to where soft drink history was made, this is the place.