Since 1913, dairy products from butter to milk to cream to the milkshakes that so many residents remember taking to go, were sold at the Hastings Dairy Store. All that ended in August 2023 when the business shuttered its doors, ending the century-long legacy of the Hastings Co-Op Creamery.
Less than a month later, the building would burn the night of Sept. 13, leaving a husk of a store and questions on the cause of the fire, and future of the site.
Two years later Hastings residents have few answers to those same questions.
As of time of writing, the investigation into the fire is still ongoing, according to Jen Longaecker, Deputy Communications Director for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
Fire investigations can commonly take anywhere from “a few weeks to several years,” said Longaecker, a timeframe that has frustrated city officials and residents alike.
Despite that timeframe, the department does not answer questions on ongoing investigations.
According to Economic Development Director John Hinzman, the insurance for the site has not been settled, which he expects would stop development until it is resolved. Settling insurance may also hinge on the state’s investigation into the fire.
Hinzman is open that the saga has “continued longer than most people would like,” but despite ongoing monthly communication with attorneys for the site, there is “nothing to report” at the two-year anniversary of the fire.

Closure
The runup to the creamery’s closure saw the business clash with the Metropolitan Council, which revoked the business’s sanitary sewer services on June 1, 2023. The council had been monitoring wastewater from the business and a spike in fats, oils, and grease the weekend of May 13, 2023 was the final straw to end sewer service.
The Permit Suspension document provided by the council listed seven different discharge violations from the end of 2022 through June 2023.
It was an allegation disputed by Justin Malone, president of the creamery’s ownership group at that time.
“Over Mother’s Day weekend, they said we had dumped some milk with a valve malfunction, and it went down the drain. According to the fat levels in their sampling, they are saying we dumped 169,000 gallons of milk. That is like dumping all of our silos filled twice down the drain. That is impossible,” said Malone during a meeting between creamery and city and state officials on Monday, June 5, 2023.
The effect on local farms was immediate.
Forty-five families supplied the creamery with milk, often tens of thousands of gallons per day. Unable to bring milk to the creamery, farmers claimed to be forced to dump tens of thousands of gallons of milk into fields.
Over the next two months, the creamery would struggle with finding both short- and long-term solutions to lacking wastewater sewer access.
Wastewater was trucked daily from Hastings to St. Paul at a cost of $7,000 per day, which cost the company an estimated $315,000 from June to August. Another $750,000 was spent during this time attempting to bring the business into compliance with the Met Council, according to Malone.
Malone was ousted from leadership at the creamery later in June and a consulting firm was hired to help run the company, including bringing on a new CEO to run day-to-day operations.
The Hastings Creamery announced it would be closing on Aug. 18, 2023. A week later the new dairy store which opened in June 2022, also announced it would be closing its doors despite ownership initially trying to save the profitable business.
“It is unfortunate to see a Hastings landmark closing its doors for good. My heart goes out to the workers and owners of the creamery and the 45 dairy farmers who will struggle to find somewhere else to bring their milk to for processing. It is a sad day for our Hastings community,” said State Rep. Shane Hudella.
“It's sad for the community after 110 years of that business being here,” said Mayor Mary Fasbender.

The Fire
In the weeks after the creamery announced its closure, supplies and equipment including the various wastewater tanks were removed from the site.
At 10:34 p.m. Sept. 13, Hastings Fire Department responded to a fire at the creamery, where the fire was not brought under control until around 2 a.m. the morning of Sept. 14.
From Reporter Bruce Karnick who covered the fire that night:
“That night was spent walking about four miles in an ‘L’ across Vermillion Street at 18th and on to the property behind the creamery talking with officials, residents and the owners of Polka Dot. The fire was intense for a long time, and the fumes were horrible. It took several days for me to feel that my breathing was normal again and I was not in the smoke all that long.
“As sad as it was to see, it was also incredible to be a part of, seeing firsthand the dedication and perseverance of our first responders. The emergency responders on site were working so hard to contain the fire to the creamery with fears that the fire could potentially spread to the LeDuc Mansion or the Polka Dot building, especially if the wind shifted slightly.
“The agencies kept each other safe working hours on end to contain the fire. The fire took at least three and a half hours to get under control and monitoring lasted well into the next day with some Hastings fire fighters on scene for more than 12 hours. Seeing the exhaustion and emotion on the faces of the first responders both from the fight in front of them and the historical significance of the creamery was both inspiring and heartbreaking with the best part being, no injuries to anyone involved.
“The cooperation of everyone involved was astonishing to witness. In total, 13 different fire departments/EMS crews rendered aid, and four law enforcement agencies secured the perimeter and supported the efforts of the fire crews. Kwik Trip was forced to close because of the smoke and fumes that engulfed their property and without hesitation, their staff still did what they could to make sure the emergency responders were taken care of with food and drinks.”
Due to the chemicals at the site and the heavy black smoke that overtook Vermillion Street, the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office issued a shelter-in-place order for a five-block radius around the creamery which included asking residents to turn off their air conditioning and close their windows and doors.
Ammonia leaking from the building was a main concern for firefighters which brought the Dakota County Special Operations Team to the site for hazmat capabilities.
“Right now, investigators are looking at some spots in the scene, then we will start working on making sure all the hotspots are out, and we'll do what we need to do to do that. Then from there, it's just a matter of making the space safe while the building owner and owners of the place work through getting it taken care of,” said Hastings Fire Chief John Townsend at a press conference on Sept. 14.
The unique construction of the century-old building made it susceptible to the fire rekindling and two days later that is exactly what happened.
The afternoon of Sept. 16, Hastings Fire Department again responded to the creamery where smoke billowed up from the already-burnt building. While Cottage Grove Fire Department was notified for a mutual aid call, the fire was brought under control in just a few hours.
At that time, fire fighters were believed to know where the fire started but no reports were released at that time nor since.

Cleanup
As of February 2024, the site was cleared for cleanup and given a deadline of Feb. 9 by the city. The stack of burnt debris on the site remained long after that date, however.
Later that month, city officials issued a citation to creamery ownership for lack of debris cleanup, which had begun to blow onto nearby properties.
As of April, the pile remained.
“It’s not moving much, that’s for sure. I sent them a letter. I’ve been in weekly conversations the last couple of weeks with them,” said Hinzman at the April 11, 2024 Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority (HEDRA) meeting.
According to Hinzman at that time, the delay in cleanup was due to insurance and whether or not the facility would be rebuilt or the site cleared completely.
While the site was cleared, more than a year later, those same insurance claims remain unsolved.
Hinzman’s tune remains the same, however: “I’m getting tired of seeing that place.”

Reporting from Bruce Karnick and John McLoone contributed to this story.