Dorchester Times: Fewer Dorchester Homes On The Market

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Fewer Dorchester Homes On The Market

The national press tells us the housing market is recovering. Judging from the local real estate market, maybe they're correct. With interest rates at rock bottom lows, now is a great time to buy in Dorchester, whether to upgrade or downsize.

According to a search of multiple databases, there are only a few Dorchester area homes currently on the market. One is at 1539 County Road K. This completely remodeled home sits on more than six acres. The owner recently added a three-stall detached garage that is surrounded by new concrete and the home has a new deck to relax and enjoy the scenic views. New tile floors, new stainless steel kitchen appliances, new kitchen cabinets, remodeled bathroom, new carpet, a new water heater, new ceiling fans and motion lights. The heat pump has a new motor. The property includes an outbuilding big enough for all your toys and a second storage building for smaller items. Enjoy all this land and the peace and quiet that comes with it. The listing price is $230,000.

Another property for sale is at 704 Lincoln in Dorchester. This three bedroom, three bathroom property was built in 1999. Taxes last year were around $1500. This home could be quite a steal if someone is willing to give it a small amount of tender loving care. What a bargain at $87,500.

There's the home at 508 W 8th Street, which has been on the market for a while, now. This is a fine home priced to sell at $107,000 -- with two beds, 1.75 baths. The property includes a generous kitchen (14 x 20) and spacious 15 x 25 family room with a stone fireplace. Just a block from the new school.

We have learned that another Dorchester property at 1536 County Road K is currently listed as "sale pending." But if you're interested, you may want to inquire to see if you can still make a bid.

There is a foreclosed property somewhere on Sumner Avenue (we suspect the trailer home just north of the school property that you can have for $35,000. Also, there is a home just north of the football field with a Zalesky realty sign, but no online listing could be found.

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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."