Dorchester Times: Business Spotlight: Kohout's Christmas Trees

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Business Spotlight: Kohout's Christmas Trees

With Christmas only a 30 days away, we wanted to recognize Kohout's Christmas and Landscape Trees, which has served the Dorchester area for several years.

The Kohout tree farm opens the right after Thanksgiving. Business days are during the weekends, 9 a.m. until dark. Some of the customer perks include: hay rack rides to and from the field; complimentary hot chocolate, popcorn and cookies; and free coloring books for kids. Christmas tree varieties include Scotch Pine and White Pine.

At Kohout's, wreaths, swags, tree stands, bags and other Christmas items are also for sale. Trees will be shook and netted for free.

Located at 1214 State Highway 15, just southwest of Dorchester, the Kohout tree farm may be contacted by phone at (402) 946-6531 or by e-mail at makohout@hotmail.com.

On a sad note, Marvin Kohout, owner of Kohout's Christmas Trees, tells the Lincoln newspaper that the drought wreaked havoc on his trees this year. He had 1,500 trees in containers this year and about 50 survived. "It's kind of discouraging," said Kohout, who has been in the Christmas tree business since 1984.

Kohout has about 300 field trees of all shapes and sizes. He might try to raise some more trees in containers next year, but this could be his last year in the family business, which he has been scaling down the past 10 years.

5 comments:

AnonymousNovember 26, 2012 at 8:34 AM
Been going there for years!! Marvin always has a smile on his face, no matter what the weather was. Will miss him and his wife next year. Where will we go????
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EdwardNovember 26, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Kohout's was an excellent example of alternative, value-added agriculture. This kind of opportunity is available everywhere, regardless of whether you have 5,000 acres or 5.

Open your eyes and imagination. Profits will follow.
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AnonymousNovember 26, 2012 at 9:09 PM
Thanks Kohouts for all your yrs of service!!
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AnonymousNovember 28, 2012 at 2:01 PM
Joyce said....
THANK YOU!! Your Christmas Tree farm is a fun place to visit and what marvelous trees and wreaths. Out at our farm, we have planted 3 of your potted pines...sorry to hear how devastating the drought was to your new crop. Would also like to thank you for ALL the Christmas trees you have donated to the school for all of us to enjoy.
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AnonymousNovember 29, 2012 at 11:53 AM
One of my favorite Christmas sites is seeing the school Christmas Tree decorated with all the handmade student ornaments. Thanks Kohout Tree Farm!
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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."