Dorchester Times: School Yearbook Will Salute 1927 School Building

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

School Yearbook Will Salute 1927 School Building

The Times has learned that the 2008 Dorchester School Yearbook will pay tribute to the 81-year-old school building scheduled to be razed this spring.

The drawing accompanying this story was created by Dorchester art instructor Stacy Lutjemeyer, and will be featured on the cover of the 2008 yearbook.

According to information sent to the Times, there will be a section dedicated to the1927 school building. For Dorchester residents and others interested in purchasing this special edition of the yearbook, prices are $30 if paid by Feb. 15. After that, the price increases to $35.

Orders will also be taken at the Dorchester Alumni Basketball Tourney and the school auction planned for May 9, 2008. The auction will feature items from the old school building.

For more information on the 2008 Dorchester Yearbook -- or to place your order -- e-mail Sandy Severance at: sschenk@esu6.org. This is a great opportunity for those with Dorchester ties to own a piece of our community's future as well as its past.

9 comments:

AnonymousJanuary 29, 2008 at 6:06 PM
That's a beautiful drawing! I can hear Auld Lang Syne, and the tears are beginning to flow.
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AnonymousJanuary 29, 2008 at 8:57 PM
Suitable for framing!
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AnonymousJanuary 29, 2008 at 10:59 PM
It is going to be a very sad day in Dorchester the day the old school is torn down. I believe in progress but when I think of the generations who have grown up in that building, and learned right from wrong within those walls, it leaves me feeling more than depressed to know it will be no more.
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AnonymousFebruary 4, 2008 at 12:54 PM
I don't believe thats what the original doors looked like. Pretty sure they were replaced after I graduated in the late 90's. Thought you might like to know
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AnonymousFebruary 4, 2008 at 9:50 PM
the doors were wooden with windows, if i remember right
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AnonymousFebruary 14, 2008 at 8:25 PM
I think that we need to forget about what the original doors might or might not have looked like, and just concentrate on the beauty of the drawing. I, for one, wish that I could draw at the level of Mrs. Lutejemeyer. It is amazing to look at her work. Just look around at the pictures in the gym and the hallways by the gym and you will see what kind of an artist she really is.
You are a great artist, Mrs. L!!
Keep up the good work!!
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AnonymousMarch 2, 2008 at 1:21 PM
I was not employed by the district when the original doors were on the building, so Mrs. Lutejemeyer was not there either. She has drawn a picture as she sees the school now, and how wonderful it is!!!! I agree with anonymous - walk around the school and see the artwork she does or has her students do. Often she does "extra" beyond what is in her contract or her contracted time. What an asset she is to our school!!!!
Thank you Mrs. Lutejemeyer
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AnonymousMarch 5, 2008 at 9:03 AM
Thank you to those that commented on my drawing. Mrs. Severance came to me and asked me to create an artistic design of the school because she wanted it featured on the cover of the yearbook. She really couldn't explain what she wanted, so I found an idea when I went to art.com. I worked from a photo of the current school, so sorry to those of you that commented about the doors not being original. I really enjoyed doing this and don't have a problem doing anything artistically that is asked of me for our school!!
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AnonymousDecember 29, 2008 at 8:33 AM
What a beautiful piece of artwork! What a talented artist you are! I may be a little predjudice being your sister-in-law, but nonetheless, you are awesome! N. Lutjemeyer
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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."