Dorchester Times: Looking Back: Dorchester's Main Street, Circa 1910

Monday, August 1, 2022

Looking Back: Dorchester's Main Street, Circa 1910

Today, we go back in time -- way back to 1910.

Thanks to a loyal reader who sent us an image via e-mail (at dorchester.times@gmail.com), we are provided this glimpse of the Bank of Dorchester and corner drug store just after the turn of the 20th century.

The image is from a vintage postcard. (Click on the pictures for a closer view.)

Notice the patriotic display in drug store window.

A postcard rack can be seen through the storefront window.

Classy. Simple. Much different times indeed.

According to our research, and some help from the 1981 Dorchester centennial book, the two businesses sat on the southwest corner of 7th Street and Washington Avenue (Main Street).

Notice the windmill behind the building, which surely supplied water since it sat where Dorchester's old water tower stood prior to its removal in 2013.

Today, First State Bank resides at this location, but the building has long had a much newer front.

The Bank of Dorchester operated from 1913 through 1930, when it fell victim to the Great Depression. To the south of the bank was Randall's shoe shop, owned by William Randall from 1888 through 1917. The space separating the bank and the shoe store -- which is the public library today -- was there even in the early 1900s.

It is unclear which former Dorchester drug store is pictured, since Dorchester had at least half a dozen drug stores from 1900 through 1920.

Our best guess is that the pharmacy pictured belonged Dr. J.E. Waller, who owned and operated this store from 1909 through 1915.

The Times would love to hear about any history our readers can share regarding these businesses.

4 comments:

AnonymousNovember 4, 2018 at 10:20 AM
Wow,pharmacy's came & went through like Bar Owner's of today!! Hmmmm.
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AnonymousNovember 4, 2018 at 10:48 AM
Always use spell-check when making Thought Provoking comments. PHARMACIES!
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AnonymousNovember 5, 2018 at 6:33 PM
Just bored enough 2 attend a Board MTG.. That's meeting to inquiers.
ReplyDelete
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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."