Dorchester Times: Help Wanted: New School Move Is Next Week

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Help Wanted: New School Move Is Next Week

All able-bodied area residents are needed to help prepare the new school building for the upcoming school year.

As of this writing, Dorchester school staff plans to move supplies and equipment into the new school next Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 2 and 3, as well as Friday, Sept. 5.

According to Superintendent Brian Redinger, the help of district patrons, parents, alumni, students (grades 6-12), school staff, and any other adults would be tremendously appreciated.

If you are able to help with this historic event, plan to be at the school around 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2. Several volunteers will be needed, Redinger says, due to the large amount of items that will be unloaded from a semi-trailer.

Volunteers will be needed Wednesday, Sept. 3 -- also a 10 a.m. start -- only if there are still items left to unload from the semi-trailer.

Many volunteers will again be needed 8:30 a.m. Friday, as items will be moved from the new wrestling room to individual class rooms. Plans are being made to provide volunteers with lunch. Volunteers are also encouraged to bring brooms to help sweep sidewalks and the new parking lot.

For more information on how to help with the new school move, call the school at (402) 946-2781.

The Times has also learned that at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10, the a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held to commemorate opening of the new school and renovated DPS campus.

5 comments:

AnonymousAugust 28, 2008 at 1:38 PM
hey village dweller, you need to update your school photo!!!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 28, 2008 at 5:30 PM
More volunteers will be needed Friday, September 5th as we move the wrestling room contents than the semi-trailer on the 2nd and/or 3rd. But both of these jobs are LARGE.
Brian Redinger
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 28, 2008 at 10:56 PM
That's a beautiful school.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 29, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Congratulations Dorchester. I haven't been in the new school yet, but after driving by the new facilities earlier this week, I can tell you that your town has the best looking school in Saline County.

Sincerley,

Crete resident
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 31, 2008 at 1:30 AM
Wait until you see the inside of the school. It is beautiful as well. What has been accomplished is truly amazing! Thanks to the patrons for supporting Dorchester Public School.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."