Dorchester Times: A Stroll Around Town: Fall Decorations

Sunday, October 21, 2007

A Stroll Around Town: Fall Decorations

Take a stroll around Dorchester and you will find some creative fall decorations and Halloween displays. We are pleased to see so many residents took time to to demonstrate their festive spirit. This year's trick-or-treaters will have plenty of treats as they roam from house to house, regardless of what is placed in their bags.

Below are a few of our favorite autumn displays that can currently be seen in Dorchester.

7 comments:

AnonymousOctober 22, 2007 at 11:12 AM
Looking good Dorchester! I think since the "old boiler room" is going down, someone (perhaps a group from school needing a fundraiser) should put on a haunted house. Lets see if it is really haunted!!!
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AnonymousOctober 22, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Thank you -- it makes me smile to drive around and see all the great decorations!
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AnonymousOctober 22, 2007 at 5:41 PM
Awesome displays can be found in the south part of town too. Check out some of the displays in the countryside. I've seen some great ones.
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AnonymousOctober 22, 2007 at 5:43 PM
Hi fellow Dorchester Longhornians!
I stumbled upon this site last week and I have to say I am so impressed with the energy and excitement that is being generated in this community. I won't disclose my name, but I have been away for 20 some years. I have been residing in a much larger city and have to say I am sick of the hustle and bustle. I long for small town life again, and I never would have considered coming back unless I saw this blog site. Now I have to admit this community is an option for me when the time comes to make the move. I would like to see some more businesses open up and succeed. Honestly, I think the new school will bring a renewed sense of community that may draw more people to town and help those businesses in return. Keep up the great work everyone!! Go BIG D!!!!
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AnonymousOctober 22, 2007 at 9:39 PM
Velders on the SW part of town have a nice display
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AnonymousOctober 23, 2007 at 5:23 PM
I suggest the Times hold a Christmas decoration contest in another month........ the winner gets $100 .........enough to cover the cost of the electricity it takes to light a place up.
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AnonymousOctober 24, 2007 at 9:37 PM
Looking at our town, things are changing. You can tell people are taking better care of there houses. New siding and roofs are going on, if you drive threw the town you will see it. Its a nice thing to see happening.
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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."