Opposite stands the Fraser Free School, built in 1863 for the elementary grades, while high school students traveled to Yonkers; it was later used as a library, a civic center, and is now home to a volunteer fire company. Next door in the ravine behind the current Youth Center stood the McLave family's blacksmith shop, where, beginning in the 1830s, waterpower from a creek flowing to the river drove the wheels of Hastings' earliest industries, including a wagon axle factory, a bone-crushing mill, and a distillery.