Dorchester Times: Dorchester: We Are Not Alone

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Dorchester: We Are Not Alone

Over the years, the staff of the Dorchester Times has wondered: Just how many Dorchesters can there be in the world?

Today, we thought we would finally find out.

According to our extensive research, there are exactly 10 Dorchesters on this lovely planet. How do we stack up to the others in terms of population? About right in the middle.

The largest two Dorchesters are the best known: 1.) The suburb of Boston, Mass.; and 2.) the historic market town in southern England, which is believed to be the namesake of our beloved community.

According to SearchDictionaries.com, there is another Dorchester in England: Dorchester-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the River Thame in Oxfordshire.

Outside of Massachusetts and the U.K., there are six other Dorchesters besides our own:

A village in Clark and Marathon counties in Wisconsin. The population was 827 at the 2000 census.
A Canadian village and shire town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.
A town in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The population was 355 at the 2010 census.
An unincorporated community in northwestern Allamakee County, Iowa.
A town in Grayson County, Texas. The population was 109 at the 2000 census.
A town in South Carolina, abandoned in 1751.

So now we can confirm that Dorchester is a unique bird,indeed, no matter which Dorchester you call home. And while we're certain that all are lovely, we still think our Dorchester is best.

10 comments:

AnonymousOctober 3, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Let's use the blog to print the minutes of the village and the school boards for the people that can't attend the meetings
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AnonymousOctober 3, 2012 at 4:44 PM
DOR•CHEST•ER -- Town in Saline County that is cleaning up its community by finally making sloppy property owners shape up or ship out. Thanks village board for doing what we elected you to do. Next up, the streets.
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Big EdOctober 4, 2012 at 9:10 AM
20 properties deemed as blighted by village hall in just 25% of the town. Wonder if the other Dorchesters have that problem with no pride by homeowners.
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AnonymousOctober 4, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Nice houses with brown yards

No businesses on main streets

Most of our money going to lawyer fees

Community buildings that are not handicap accessible

Keep up the good work village board Do what you were elected to do

New streets would be my main concern. Not
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AnonymousOctober 4, 2012 at 6:49 PM
I'm thinking about running for town board so I can confront these illiterate junk yard dogs myself. Lawyers would be the least of their concerns.
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AnonymousOctober 4, 2012 at 9:33 PM
Streets would be the least concerned. The board is doing a great job. Its not as easy as everyone may think. Whats so bad about the town looking great, new streets are not going to help, they have to start somewhere. If you dont like it then move. Thats all I have to say.
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AnonymousOctober 4, 2012 at 11:53 PM
I am a DHS grad who's now in college. I love Dorchester and would like to make it my home, but I'm troubled by the blow back that is happening when the town tries to improve the appearance of out town.

Look at the population: In ten years we went from 615 to 586. To make Dorchester attract quality people and keep quality people in town, it must be a place where good hard working, clean people want to live.

We didn't get here overnight and I suppose we can't expect instant change. Yet it would be nice if all of the town could leave a mark and make Dorchester a place where I can lead a high quality life and raise a family.
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AnonymousOctober 5, 2012 at 5:33 PM
As a past Dorchester student, I feel like the streets are actually one of the first things that should be fixed. I have ruined my car many times from the holes every block.
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AnonymousOctober 6, 2012 at 6:26 PM
I now live in Lincoln But I know something or two about the Dorchester board since I once served on it. I have a sneaking suspicion that people would be shocked and all I did if they knew how much revenue is coming in from the co-op. Dorchester should be a shining city on a hill if the revenue is used properly. If all goes well with the cleanup and the extra revenue is put to good use people will be flocking to Dorchester in a decade or so I predict
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AnonymousOctober 19, 2012 at 8:08 PM
Who, exactly, is the "staff of the Dorchester Times"? Most blogs identify the blogger.
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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."