Dorchester Times: Get Your Last Minute Gifts In Dorchester -- And Donate A Few Dollars

Monday, December 14, 2009

Get Your Last Minute Gifts In Dorchester -- And Donate A Few Dollars

(Updated -- 12/15, 4:33 p.m.)

With Christmas only days away, some of you are probably scrambling for last-minute gift ideas. Why not consider buying gift certificates from Ben's Iron Grill, Joe's Place Bar & Grill, Dorchester Grocery, Donna's Hair Creations, Farmers Cooperative Gas Station, Tysers Repair and other Dorchester area businesses?

As one reader e-mailed us recently, it just makes sense to buy Christmas gifts locally instead of purchasing "the cheap, imported Chinese products that add to America's trade deficit."

Other ideas include visiting Hedgehog & Hubbies Antique Shop on the west edge of town. The antique shop has a number of Dorchester and DHS vintage items. Or help a local farmer and buy a corn burning stove.

Finally, during this time of giving, don't forget the importance of contributing to area philanthropies and charitable groups, or volunteering to help with local projects and organizations. Consider sending some well-deserved funds to the Dorchester Area Community Foundation. As mentioned by a Times' reader, the Havlat Historical Marker is in place at the Saline County Museum. The next project on the list is "Welcome to Dorchester" signs. Your donations to the DACF are tax deductible. Make checks payable to: Dorchester Area Community Foundation, c/o Peg Bergmeyer, 101 Washington, Dorchester, NE 68343.

Also, think about sending monthly donation to the Dorchester Methodist Church or Dorchester's Saline Baptist Ministries, whether or not you're a member. Volunteer to see how you can improve the appearance of Dorchester's Main Street and the downtown business area.

The Times welcomes your ideas on how to make the Christmas season just a little better in our community.

8 comments:

AnonymousDecember 15, 2009 at 9:11 AM
Another idea to benefit the whole community is the Dorchester Area Community Foundation. If you haven't noticed the Havlat Historical Marker is in place at the Saline County Museum on the south side of the highway. Next project on the list is Dorchester Welcome signs. You can give to this cause, now and any time, with a tax deductible donation.
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cynical richardDecember 15, 2009 at 2:44 PM
bought the wife a new set of tires from the coop for christmas ............................ thats enough spending on her for the year ....................................... i told her she could have the old tires for her flower garden in the spring .................... i'm just that generous of a guy....................
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AnonymousDecember 15, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Pretty weak, Dick. That's all you could come up with? What a shame...
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cynical richardDecember 15, 2009 at 4:12 PM
....... i also bought a gift certificate at donna's hair shop for your wife annoymous .................. it won't cover the cost for a new hair-do .................... but she will be able to get her mustache trimmed a couple times ......................
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AnonymousDecember 15, 2009 at 4:22 PM
How about Saline Baptist Ministries? Seems kind of one sided to me!!!
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AnonymousDecember 15, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Cynical Richard you make me laugh!!! Does that make me strange that I enjoy your sense of humor???
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AnonymousDecember 15, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Wow! Mess with CR and get burned!!
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AnonymousDecember 19, 2009 at 10:24 AM
I love Cynical Richard's comments too! Merry Christmas Richard!
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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."