Dorchester Times: News Briefs: School Clean-Up Complete

Friday, May 30, 2008

News Briefs: School Clean-Up Complete

Clean-Up From Old School Complete: Now that the debris from the 1927 school building has been cleared from the site, construction on the elementary classrooms can begin. The 2008-09 school year is expected to start around Sept. 10 in the new 33,500 square foot addition, which will feature both elementary and high school classrooms, a multi-purpose room with stage, library and administrative offices. Photos of Ayars & Ayars' work on the renovation can be found on the company's site by clicking here. However, no new photos have been added in recent weeks.

KETV Features Farmers Co-op: Omaha news crews were in town earlier this week, as KETV in Omaha reported on the rising cost of agricultural inputs, such as fuel and fertilizer. In one year, seed prices have doubled, diesel prices have jumped by $2 and fertilizer prices have tripled, according to KETV's report. Featured in KETV's story was an interview with Dorchester's Farmers Cooperative manager Ron Velder. Velder said the co-op's diesel fuel expenses are $600,000 higher compared to last year. Video of the segment can be viewed on KETV's Web site.

Two DHS Hoopsters On All-Nebraska Teams: Two Lady Longhorns are playing summer basketball for statewide elite teams this summer. DHS' Molly Pracheil is a member of the Cornhusker Shooting Stars Regional 17 & under team, while Karmen Lawver is on the roster of the CSS Regional 15 & under team. Many of the summer teams already have begun their seasons. We wish both Molly and Karmen successful summer seasons.

Storm Packs Punch, Little Rain: Despite the howling -- and, in some cases, damaging -- winds of Thursday's storms, the Dorchester area received little precipitation. Totals from the Nebraska Rainfall Assessment & Information Network (RAIN), Dorchester area total ranged from 0.35" to 0.28".

7 comments:

AnonymousMay 30, 2008 at 5:19 PM
Ron Velder gives good "sound bite." I went to school with Steve Wiese who is interviewed in the story. Too bad Channel 7 kept mispronouncing his name.
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AnonymousMay 31, 2008 at 12:28 AM
Nice job, Molly and Karmen. You guys rock!!!!!!!!!
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AnonymousJune 1, 2008 at 1:21 AM
I see Ford motors is sending another 4,500 jobs to Mexico. Can we send Farmland there too?
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Village DwellerJune 1, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Anonymous:

Please keep your comments germane to the story topics.

Thank you.
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AnonymousJune 2, 2008 at 10:43 AM
I think Meredith Behrens also made the Shooting Stars team in Lincoln, so congratulations to her too!
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Village DwellerJune 2, 2008 at 10:53 AM
If we failed to mention any other DHS athletes, we apologize.

Our information came from a report last week in the Omaha World Herald.
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AnonymousJune 5, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Meredith Behrens did make the Cornhusker Shooting Stars 7/8th Regional Team. I can't wait to watch the Dorchester girls basketball team this school year. I believe that the fans will be in for quite a treat. Go Lady Longhorns!
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Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

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."