Dorchester Times: News Briefs: Floor Poured For New School

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

News Briefs: Floor Poured For New School

Floor Poured For New School: Crews started pouring the foundation of the new Dorchester School addition this week. Rain has slowed progress on the new building and campus renovation, but the 2008-09 school year is still expected to start around Sept. 10, according to sources. When complete, the new 33,500 square foot addition will feature both elementary and high school classrooms, a multi-purpose room, stage, library and administrative offices.

Benefit For Chris Beekley Schmidt: On Sunday, June 29, a free-will offering spaghetti feed will be held at Dorchester's United Methodist Church for Christine Beekley Schmidt, a Dorchester native and DHS graduate. Christine was recently diagnosed with cancer. The feed will be held from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. For those unable to attend, donations may be sent to the Dorchester United Methodist Church, Box 251, Dorchester, NE 68343.

New Economic Development Leader Selected: Those hoping to see more economic development efforts in Dorchester should know that the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD) has announced that Norene Fitzgerald joined its staff as a Community Development Specialist. Fitzgerald, a native of Exeter, will be responsible for working with local governmental units in the identification of community and economic development projects; preparing grant applications to assist with accomplishing those projects; and, providing administrative assistance necessary to funded projects. Dorchester is included in her area of responsibility. Fitzgerald may be reached at 402/475-2560 or nfitzgerald@sendd.org.

4 comments:

Aaron June 19, 2008 at 4:02 PM
I wanted to leave a note with regard to the cancer benefit for Christine Beekley Schmidt. I am honestly not sure if I have ever met her but I do know what she is going through and will be happy to contribute to her benefit.

When I underwent chemotherapy treatments in the Fall of 2007, there were people there for my family and I during our toughest times. With medical bills piling up and exhaustion from the treatment, you guys were there for us. We made it through this time because of the love, support and prayers that we received from residents of Dorchester and surrounding communities.

I am happy to say that we have been able to pay off our last medical bills this month. You never expect to be the one in these situations, but sometimes you are. I encourage everyone to do what they can to help Christine with this benefit and to keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Aaron Stutzman
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AnonymousJune 21, 2008 at 8:10 AM
Joye K said...
Aaron, I am so glad that things are looking up for you and your family and so happy that you can put the burden of medical bills behind you.

I would like to encourage everyone to give what they can to help Chris. She certainly has a difficult road. If we can make that road a little less difficult by helping with the huge amount of medical bills, lets do it!
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AnonymousJune 26, 2008 at 10:03 PM
I dont know exactly where to comment on this, so i will do it here.

In the latest school board minutes that were printed in the Crete News, Don Pieper was hired by the School board as a consulant for a fee of $10,000.

This is totally ridiculous. What is this board thinking. We hire two administrator at about 80,000 a piece and now we throw in another bunch of money for a consultant.

Where is all this money coming from, and what will be the responsibilites of the consultant?

Crazy things happen. Was this a job that others could apply for??

It will be nice to see what kind of answers they come up with this time.
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AnonymousJune 27, 2008 at 12:11 AM
With all the rain we've been getting how behind schedule is the new school?
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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."