Dorchester Times: News Briefs: New School Walls Going Up

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

News Briefs: New School Walls Going Up

New School Walls Going Up: The walls of the new school building are going up where the 1928 school once stood. The picture at the right shows the raising of the first section of the walls. The new school year is expected to start in mid-September 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 on the west side of the campus can be viewed by clicking here.

Bruhas Named Pioneer Farm Family: The Shelly Bruha family of Dorchester is one of this year's Nebraska Pioneer Farm Families, according the Omaha World-Herald. The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben and the Nebraska Fair Managers Association have announced the 185 honorees who will receive the 2008 Pioneer Farm Family Awards, recognize families that have owned a parcel of land for at least 100 consecutive years. Since its inception 52 years ago, more than 7,000 families have been granted this award. The Bruhas will receive their award during the upcoming county fair.

Saline County Included In CRP Release: The USDA is releasing Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for livestock grazing in Saline County and other areas recently designated as Presidential Disaster Areas because of flooding. To be approved, CRP participants must write their county FSA office, obtain a modified conservation plan and receive county office approval before beginning to graze. Participants will experience a 25 percent reduction in their CRP rental payments.

3 comments:

AnonymousJuly 8, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Congratulations to the Bruhas! Also congratulations to Dorchester for having the guts to go forward with the new school.

As a resident of Crete who has children, I can tell you that many of us younger parents here are considering moving to your school district so our kids can get a quality education.
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AnonymousJuly 8, 2008 at 8:37 PM
I think its crazy that they are release CRP acres in saline county.............. if someone signs up for it they should be forced to stick to their contract .............. another government program, more wasted tax-payer dollars...........
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AnonymousJuly 8, 2008 at 8:51 PM
USDA must be getting heat from the politicians.
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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."