Dorchester Times: REDUCED: Dorchester Houses For Sale

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

REDUCED: Dorchester Houses For Sale

Dorchester is one of Nebraska's best little communities under 1,000 -- and it is getting noticed for the right reasons.

Consider what our community has to offer:

A newer K-12 school, built in 2008, with small class sizes and a big school budget surplus (meaning property taxes won't spike).
A clean, peaceful, safe community, with a new water park coming to the city park soon.
A new water tower and sewer infrastructure.
The lowest school property tax levy in Saline County.
Affordable living.
One of the largest agri-businesses headquarters (Farmers Cooperative) in the state.
Friendly, helpful neighbors in a closely knit community.
A 10-minute drive from employers in Crete, Milford and Seward. And just 25 minutes to Lincoln. Located next to two major highways and near I-80.

However, one challenge facing Dorchester is housing supply. We've heard from readers who've said they would like to move to Dorchester, if only good homes were available.

Today, we showcase the latest Dorchester home available right now. And it's a dandy! If you're ready to call Dorchester home, we encourage you to take a look. Make Dorchester your home and grow with our community.

404 W 11th St.: UPDATE - This home had been listed as "pending" a few weeks ago, but is now relisted with a realtor for $145,000, considerably lower than the seller had been asking. Keep in mind the total tax assessment is $106,035, but that doesn't always include recent interior improvements. With four bedrooms and 1 bathroom, as well as 1,380 sq. ft., this home is for sale by owner. It's a great home for a single family and is close to the Dorchester school. Remodeled with many updates just three years ago, renovations include roof, a/c, furnace, and water heater. Nice big corner lot for kids to play and on a quiet street. Large, new shop building is included with a whopping 1125 square feet. Must be pre-approved for a walk-through. For more details and several pictures, click here.

508 Lincoln Ave.: $60,000. Sturdy two-story home with two bedrooms, living room, bathroom, dining room and large kitchen on main floor. Upstairs has a split stairway with two bedrooms on each side for a total of six bedrooms! Plus a second furnace for the upstairs. Large attractive lot. HUD Homes are sold "as is." FHA financing (Insured Escrow) 203K eligible subject to FHA appraisal.

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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."