Dorchester Times: Funds Needed Now To Complete Dorchester Welcome Signs

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Funds Needed Now To Complete Dorchester Welcome Signs

As reported earlier, the Dorchester Community Foundation is raising funds to finalize the town's welcome sign project.

According to Foundation officials, the plans are to build the first sign on Highway 33 on the south side of town. That welcome sign will rest on the west edge of the Saline County Historical Society’s property.

A second sign will then be erected on the west side of Highways 6/15 near the access spur north of town.

According to information provided to the Times, both signs will mirror the design that is to be painted on the village's new water tower, which could be completed yet this year or early 2013. Planners wanted to tie the new signs to Dorchester’s new symbol, which will soon sit high above the town's rooftops for decades to come.

"This will be a great first step in re-branding Dorchester's public image for the new century," said one community leader. "I hope everyone in town, the surrounding area, as well as Dorchester natives who now live elsewhere will contribute to this worthy cause."

The signs will be rather substantial in size, measuring 8' tall (pillars) and 20' wide. They will stand on an elevated landing measuring 6' by 24'. Plans are to have them lighted, as well.

The signs will be all concrete and brick and should require little to no maintenance.

The Dorchester Community Foundation has secured some funds, but must now raise approximately $16,000 to complete this important project that reflects our community pride.

The Dorchester Community Foundation is currently accepting donations to help complete the project.

The Welcome Sign Committee is made up of the following Foundation members: Mike Pracheil, Eric Stehlik, Carol Olson, Linda Easley and Dale Hayek.

If you would like to contribute to this project, make checks payable to Dorchester Community Foundation Fund.

Donations should be sent to:

Joyce Karl
108 Whitmar Avenue
Dorchester, NE 68343

Dale Hayek
652 County Road 1200
Dorchester, NE 68343

The Dorchester Community Foundation Fund is a non-profit subsidiary of the Nebraska Community Foundation so all donations are tax deductable.

5 comments:

Dale HayekAugust 30, 2012 at 10:52 AM
I would like to thank the local producer who just sold 50.00 bushels of $8.00 corn on behalf of the Dorchester Community Foundation's account. I encourage other local producer's to take advantage of high grain prices and support our community at the same time. Thanks again.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Dale HayekAugust 30, 2012 at 2:08 PM
I would like to thank the local producer who just sold 50 bushels of $8.00 corn for the Dorchester Community Foundation account. I encourage other producers to take advantage of these high grain prices and at the same time show their community pride. Thanks again!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 30, 2012 at 2:14 PM
Wow -- That is very generous. Is there a notice or sign at the co-op notifying farmers of this option?
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 31, 2012 at 11:21 PM
I like this a lot. Very nice! Good work folks. Good things happen when good minds volunteer.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousSeptember 2, 2012 at 8:14 PM
Let's save our money and give residences a break in water rates.

Gotta love green grass
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."