Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: 14-Year-Old Musician To Headline Sunday Polka Party In Dorchester

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

NEWS ROUND-UP: 14-Year-Old Musician To Headline Sunday Polka Party In Dorchester

Here's what is taking place in our neck of the woods:

Addie Hejl To Headline Dorchester Polka Party This Sunday At Dorchester Legion: Are you ready to party to polka? Another popular polka party will be held at the American Legion Hall this coming Sunday, June 24. Addie Hejl, who is only 14 years old, will be providing the tunes. Addie just released a CD.  Her grandparents gave her an accordion when she was 8, and she's been a musical success ever since. Sunday's event will kick off at 4 p.m. and continue until at least 8 p.m. There's only a small cover charge and the Legion kitchen will be open. Free-will donations will be accepted. Proceeds will go to the Dorchester American Legion.

Jefferson County Gets Up To 7″ Of Rain: Just to our south, heavy rain and hail hammered parts of Jefferson County last night. Between five and seven inches of rain had fallen as of this morning, causing significant flooding. Meanwhile, as of 7:00 a.m. today, Dorchester had received around 2 inches.

Dorchester Vacation Bible School Will Be July 9-11: It's Vacation Bible School time at Dorchester United Methodist Church. This year's theme is "Operation Overboard" and will be sure to provide a great time for the kids. VBS classes begin Monday, July 9 and continue Tuesday (July 10) and Wednesday (July 11) -- 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. each night.  There is still time to register. Just show up at the church on Monday, July 9, at 5:30 p.m. That's when registration begins.  Also, a light supper will be offered at the 5:30 p.m. registration.  All children, regardless of their parents' church affiliation, are invited.  If anyone would like to volunteer or has questions, contact Cindy Kotas 402-826-7106 or dnckotas@yahoo.com.

New Building Going Up At County Museum: The Times has learned via social media that the Saline County Historical Society has broken ground on another new building at the museum in Dorchester. This new structure, which will be located at the east edge of the museum grounds, is possible because of a generous donation made by the Bernard and Helen Kaspar family, according to the museum's Facebook post. The building will house farm and other agriculture-related equipment, and it is expected to be up soon, the post says.

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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."