Dorchester Times: News Briefs: DHS' Lawver Takes Two Golds

Thursday, April 3, 2008

News Briefs: DHS' Lawver Takes Two Golds

Despite this week's cool temperatures, Dorchester's Karmen Lawver is back to her winning ways. The DHS sophomore won two gold medals at yesterday's Mustang Invitational at Friend. Lawver hurled the discuss 120'-9" to take the top spot in that event. In the shot put, she took top honors with a toss of 37'-11¼". Last year, Lawver was the only freshman to compete in the Class D discuss throw at Nebraska State Track & Field Meet in Omaha, where she placed 16th.

Former Longhorn football standout Lance Bobolz is now listed on the University of Nebraska's Internet compilation of Husker Football letter winners. To our knowledge, Bobolz is the only DHS graduate to play football for the Huskers. Listed as a wingback, Bobolz lettered in 1990, his senior year at UNL.

Nearly 27 years ago, Dorchester celebrated its centennial. A reminder of that historic event can now be found on E-Bay, the Internet auction site. A seller in Council Bluffs, Iowa is offering a bronze medallion commemorating the 75th anniversary of Dorchester's Citizens State Bank. Many Dorchester residents will remember that the medallions were distributed during the town's centennial celebration, including during the centennial parade. Of course, the bank is now known as First State Bank. And the bank's 75th anniversary was actually in 1982.

5 comments:

AnonymousApril 3, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Lance was a great player at Dorchester surrounded by alot of other great players.

Here's hoping the Longhorns get back to the glory days when they were rated year after year.
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AnonymousApril 4, 2008 at 8:06 AM
Great job Karmen!! Keep up the good and hard work!
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AnonymousApril 4, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Impressive for a sophomore. Karmen is going to win state this year from what track followers are telling me.
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AnonymousApril 4, 2008 at 11:08 PM
I just won the dorchester bank coin on ebay.
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AnonymousApril 6, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Joyce Karl said.......
Congratulations to Karmen Lawver and Lance Bobolz. I've had the opportunity to watch so many talented (talented in so many areas) students go through our school system -- just wanted to say "thank you". Returned Saturday from Omaha with the FBLA group that attended the State Leadership Conference--great group of 18 young adults that represented Dorchester very well.

Also, "Happy Birthday" Dorchester Times. I don't know the exact date you went online but I know it was in April. Thanks for all your work and information.
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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."