Dorchester Times: Students, Volunteers Begin Clearing School

Monday, May 5, 2008

Students, Volunteers Begin Clearing School

The arduous task of clearing the old Dorchester school building has begun. Images of today's move are below, courtesy of Times' readers.

Today, Dorchester junior high and high school students carried out library books and text books. With less than 15 days until the 1927 building is razed -- and only four days until Friday's school auction -- time is growing short to complete this demanding job.

Students, volunteers and school staff will continue the moving process throughout the week. Moving will take place Tuesday afternoon, as well as all day Wednesday and Thursday.

More volunteers from the community are needed. If you wish to assist with the move, simply show up at the school during moving hours.

Those who helped with today wish to send a special thanks to Greg Tyser for the use of the moving van, as well as Keith Spanyers for providing the semi-tractor.

10 comments:

AnonymousMay 5, 2008 at 8:05 PM
DC Husker says....

It's a bittersweet time.

Thanks, Keith.

P.S. We use to party together.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 5, 2008 at 9:41 PM
what a reality, its really going to happen, seeing the kids loading up things, it just doesnt seem possilble. Knowing that the memories that made our school will soon be gone, and new ones start. It will be a hard time for everyone. As I have always said, were not here for along time, but to have a good time. This is to be said about the school, lets have a good time, and make many more new mememories in the new one.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2008 at 9:01 AM
Its good to see kids working ........ a rare site these days...................
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Cynical's comments aside, I think it is wonderful to see the students helping with the move. This demonstrates a huge amount of school pride! I've always said it will be sad to see my old school torn down, but schools are not about the past ... they are about the future. I only wish the current school could be moved to the museum in a feasible manner.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Good work, ladies and gentlemen.

You should be proud of your service and your new school.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Dorchester has so many reason to be proud of their young people, it should come as no surprise to see our kids pitching in and moving things from the school. It a good thing our young people don't have the same attitude as cynical richard or we would all be in trouble.

Thank you to all the students who are helping (I know most of you would be there even if you weren't required to). I hope you enjoy your new school.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2008 at 5:37 PM
Roseville, CA says...

I hope 81 years from now when it's time for another new school that those who are present have the same pangs of nostalgia.

Farewell
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 9, 2008 at 8:02 AM
I wonder how much valuable stuff is winding up in the dumpster. After all, as most members of academia know, things don't cost them anything, and "we can just get a new one."
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 9, 2008 at 11:25 AM
As most people know, members of academia are also taxpayers.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 10, 2008 at 7:15 AM
Hey Taxpayer

you got to be crazy.........all of the stuff at the auction should have been in the dumpster many years ago. When you cant get bidders to give you a dollar for the whole table, or a whole room of fixtures, or a row of lockers, that should tell you something.

That stuff was crap.

I would venture to guess, with the exception of a few items, that the commission will eat up most of the profits.

Lets step forward with out thinking here and change the attitude.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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."