Dorchester Times: Sign Up Here To Volunteer For Dorchester

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Sign Up Here To Volunteer For Dorchester

In recent days, several comments have been left on this Web site regarding hometown improvements and the maintenance of Dorchester's public property. Some of the commentary has been somewhat contentious, but we have enjoyed the feedback and believe the discussion is mostly healthy.

In response to our June 5 post, there has been a wide spectrum of suggestions for community improvement projects, including the creation a community fitness center; building a nursing home or assisted living center; establishing a "Yard of the Week" award; and even starting a "Main Street Median Improvement Club."

We are pleased that some commentators offered possible solutions to the challenges facing Dorchester. For instance, reader Pat Dvorak noted that vandalism at the City Park has been a problem. She reported that in a single day, the park bathrooms were vandalized three times.

So we especially like the idea of involving youth in future improvement projects initiated by the town or its organizations. As one reader stated, "If you get the kids helping, they'll take pride in the town (and) be less tempted to vandalize." We agree. As an example, the DHS girls' basketball team recently painted the basketball court in the city park. The result? Many more young people have been playing ball there in recent weeks.

Our favorite suggestion came from reader Hometown Gal, who recommended the Times have a volunteer sign-up. She wrote: "We need the manpower to make Dorchester beautiful again. Remember 15 or so years ago when the same group of ladies would care for our medians? We could also have a great park. ... We need leadership."

The call has been sounded. If you or your children have a few extra minutes to give back to our town -- regardless of whether you live in town or in the country -- please sign up to volunteer. Leave your name, number and e-mail address by clicking on the comment section below. Or if you wish to sign up privately, send us your information at Dorchester.Times@gmail.com.

In a few days, we will pass on this information to the leaders of the Dorchester Area Community Association (DACA), who can use the contact information when new community projects are in the works.

4 comments:

Village DwellerJune 19, 2007 at 1:33 PM
One community volunteer who submitted her contact information wrote: "I already pull weeds in the park while my children are playing there. ... Maybe this will show them how they too can help out."

She signed up as a community volunteer because she thought "this would be the perfect opportunity to show my kids what being part of a community is about."

Thanks to those of you who have already signed up at Dorchester.Times@gmail.com
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Interested BystanderJune 19, 2007 at 3:35 PM
Good luck getting volunteers to help beautify the community. A few years back when Carole Sprague was still a resident she tried getting volunteers to spruce up the downtown area. She wasn't very successful. Some building owners weren't interested - even with free labor.
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AnonymousJune 25, 2007 at 10:00 AM
If you get a "boulevard group" going again, grandma and I will do our best to help you when we can. We are volunteering.
Carey Potter & Clara Bosak
cpotter@nacds.org
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AnonymousJune 29, 2007 at 4:33 PM
With respect to vandalism, I would humbly suggest that the miscreants who do these sorts of things be made to physically clean up their mess, if the Judge/Justice of the
Peace has any intestinal foritude they would also impose a mimimum of 45 days community service (i.e., picking up litter in & around the town, pulling weeds, etc) and lastly that the parents be required to reimburse the town for expenses rendered to correct their vandalism. Until all people regardless of age starting with juveniles are made to realize there are consequences for their behavior the problem will never cease.
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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."