Dorchester Times: Welcome to the Dorchester Times

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Welcome to the Dorchester Times

Welcome to the Dorchester Times. This site is dedicated to our town, Dorchester, Nebraska -- a peaceful little community in southeast Nebraska that is steeped in history and tradition. While we relish our proud past, we also enjoy the blessings of today and eagerly look forward to the future.

This site features the latest news, developments, historical perspectives and other information pertaining to Dorchester. We hope you will visit often. Whether you are a resident of Dorchester and the Saline County community, or are only visiting our site, we welcome your comments.

Thank you for visiting. And we look forward to seeing you in Dorchester soon.

17 comments:

AnonymousApril 11, 2007 at 4:41 PM
Interesting project you have here. I grew up in Dorchester and graduated from the high school in 1974 and now reside in Colorado. I hope you update frequently.
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AnonymousApril 13, 2007 at 12:13 PM
this is a nice community service.
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AnonymousApril 13, 2007 at 3:51 PM
I didn't know there was enough news to report in Dorchester.
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Village DwellerApril 13, 2007 at 3:54 PM
Crete Guy: We can probably print just as much "news" on one posting here as you'll ever find in an entire issue of The Crete News.
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AnonymousApril 19, 2007 at 12:38 AM
I'm suprised there isn't anything about Shannon Wenz in here. After all, she WAS an intricate part of the community right?
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country cousinApril 19, 2007 at 3:26 PM
This is a great start to promote a nice community. Dorchester is almost like "Cheers", in that "everyone knows your name" (if you grew up there). There are hundreds of ideas for future blogs about past teachers and community leaders. Give them time to get to your favorite. Kudo's to the instigator's of this project.
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AnonymousApril 24, 2007 at 6:29 PM
I like this website a lot. It's updated often which is very nice.
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JoyceApril 26, 2007 at 8:49 AM
This is a wonderful site. Thank you for all the hard work. I like the fact that history and current happenings are blended. Enjoy reading all the comments. Doing a great job.
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AnonymousApril 26, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Dorchester is the bomb digitity~~~~~but we could use a pool and bowling alley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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AnonymousMay 1, 2007 at 12:59 PM
Don't know who is doing this but it's done very well. Kind of like having a Dorchester newspaper. Articles are informative, interesting and timely. The facts are presented without bias. Keep up the good work.
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AnonymousAugust 10, 2007 at 8:43 AM
Nice web site. Much better than Crete's "Weekly Wipe." Keep up the good work!
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AnonymousAugust 10, 2007 at 8:56 AM
Nice web site. Much better than Crete's "Weekly Wipe." Keep up the good work!
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AnonymousJanuary 10, 2008 at 3:33 PM
I have lived in Dorchester many years and have seen alot of good things and not so good things happen in this town. I am a home owner and taxpayer and would really like to know just what our city employee's have been doing since we apparently can't even try to get the mess on our streets cleared up. Paying their salary
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AnonymousApril 9, 2008 at 7:22 PM
Just added the 'Times' to my favorites. will be back often.
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AnonymousJune 12, 2013 at 7:35 AM
Dorchester dood is right you guys do need a pool and a bowling alley then u would be the bomb digity

Sincerely,
Squatcher #1
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AnonymousAugust 1, 2014 at 10:57 PM
I am looking for information as to when F.C. Green died and what branch of service he was in, Navy or Airforce. F.C. and were distant cousins and good friends. Need this information so I can see if his name can be added to Viet Nam wall. Any information will greatly appreciated.

Richard Sehnert formerly of Dorchester. Great little town to grow up in.
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Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

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."