Dorchester Times: Central Neb. Town Tries To Lure Back Former Residents

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Central Neb. Town Tries To Lure Back Former Residents

The community of Kearney is undertaking a serious effort to bring back former students and residents to the Buffalo County area. It is a model we think Dorchester leaders need to consider.

The Kearney Hub reports the Kearney Chamber of Commerce recently mailed 5,000 postcards to high school alumni from Kearney, Ravenna, Gibbon and Minden. The postcards promote the Kearney area as the ideal place to live, work and raise a family, and encourage alumni to consider job opportunities “back home,” said Bruce Blankenship, chair of the chamber workforce committee.

The first mailing — which included a holiday theme and photo of Santa’s Cottage in downtown Kearney — was mailed Thanksgiving week. Four additional mailings are planned in 2008. “We actually stole this idea from Norfolk, which has had a lot of success in using mailings to get graduates to return to that area,” Blankenship said. “We are trying to plant a seed with former residents and let them know we care.”

The postcards include a link to the chamber Web site, which includes a newly developed “Employment Opportunities” page that displays information on area job openings. “They already know what they’ll find here," Blankenship said. "We just want to let people know that Kearney would like to see them come back to the area.”

4 comments:

AnonymousDecember 4, 2007 at 8:48 PM
Once again I have to thank the Dorchester Times for bringing back memories. I interviewed Bruce Blankenship in the 1980's while I was a student at Kearney State College and working part-time for Channel 10/11. Bruce even graciously forgave me and Channel 10/11 when his last name appeared misspelled on the screen. The "p" somehow became a "t"! In regards to luring back former residents, I was one of those Nebraskans who moved back to my home state after being away for 20 years. I would suggest two things: increase the number of job opportunities and please improve your mindset. It is almost a given that you will be downsized at least once in a lifetime. This happened to me and I was forced to leave NE (again) in order to find employment. Second, it would be helpful if Nebraskan's could accept a difference in opinion without becoming extremely agitated and hostile. I encountered these alarming reactions from so-called professional individuals such as a dentist, a county treasurer, and clergy. No one wants to live in a state where the anger level is simmering below the surface. I have lived in six different states and was never told to leave because of differing opinions regarding public policy issues. Thank You
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AnonymousDecember 4, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Ask Tom Osborne about leaving the state. In 1979, the Colorado coaching job was open and T.O. now says it was the only time he was tempted to leave. He said he wanted to go because he couldn't ever see attitudes improving in Nebraska. It's just a shame he didn't say a little bit more when fans/the media got out of hand this year.
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AnonymousDecember 5, 2007 at 9:56 AM
Although I would be very supportive of any Dorchester area recruitment initiative, I would caution against simply using a mailing. They tend to be expensive and according to a recent UNL study not that effective. http://cari.unl.edu/nri/documents/Buffalo_Commons_Research.pdf
I think that the important thing to notice in this Hub article is that the postcard pointed people to a website.
I have mentioned this before...in order to increase the exposure of Dorchester to outside residents there must be a web presence. Isn't there someone or some group willing to step up, and start looking into the web idea? If you go through NPPD, it would be at little cost...just the domain name registration. It would be a start.
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AnonymousDecember 5, 2007 at 1:37 PM
EDITOR PLEASE DELETE MY LAST COMMENT AND REPLACE WITH THIS. MY LINK WAS BROKEN, THANKS

Although I would be very supportive of any Dorchester area recruitment initiative, I would caution against simply using a mailing. They tend to be expensive and according to a recent UNL Study , not that effective.
I think that the important thing to notice in this Hub article is that the postcard pointed people to a website.
I have mentioned this before...in order to increase the exposure of Dorchester to outside residents there must be a web presence. Isn't there someone or some group willing to step up, and start looking into the web idea? If you go through NPPD, it would be at little cost...just the domain name registration. It would be a start.
ReplyDelete
Replies

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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."