Hastings is an unincorporated community and agricultural center in St. Johns County, Florida, United States, southwest of St. Augustine. It was formerly an incorporated town, but it was dissolved in 2018 after a vote by residents. The population was 580 at the 2010 census. As of 2018, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to be 648. History Henry Morrison Flagler built tourist hotels at St. Augustine in the late 19th century, including the Ponce de León Hotel. He needed a local source of fresh vegetables for his guests, so he persuaded Thomas Horace Hastings, his cousin, to develop a farm. A small community evolved into a town, which was named for its founder in 1890. Hastings is known as the "Potato Capital of Florida" with of potato farms, but also produces cabbage, onions, eggplant and ornamental horticulture. Hastings in 1910 was thriving town that was a stop on the Florida East Coast Railway. The population of approximately 1,200 supported several general stores, a bakery, drug stores, meat markets, an ice plant and cold storage. In addition to farming, two companies manufactured barrels and a grist mill ground grain. There was a bank and a hotel, three doctors and a dentist. The town had water and sewer utilities, telephone and telegraph service. The local public school was good. Today the former FEC line is part of the Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail, and a trailhead can be found in the community within the Cora C. Harrison Preserve. On November 7, 2017, the voters of Hastings elected to dissolve the city with an 82% majority vote. St. Johns County officially took control of the area on March 1, 2018. The United States Census Bureau designated Hastings as a census-designated place in the 2020 census. National exposure The town was briefly in the spotlight when the American Broadcasting Company television network show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featured the Harvey family in a show aired on April 24, 2005, with assistance from its local affiliate WJXX. Workers employed by the show were joined by the Northeast Florida Builders Association (NFBA) members to complete the project, which demolished the family's 1930s' broken-down structure and replaced it with a , 2-story home with a 2009 assessed value of $342,696. The project was completed in seven days of work. Much of the actual labor was performed by the non-profit Builder's Care, a unit of the NFBA.