Dorchester Times: Longhorn Lip Balm A Hit At Crete Wal-Mart

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Longhorn Lip Balm A Hit At Crete Wal-Mart

In previous posts, the Times has featured Dorchester-related items for sale, including items found on the Internet. From a Dorchester city limits sign to a 1930's air mail envelope with a rare Dorchester postmark, we have been impressed with the wide variety of Dorchester memorabilia available to area residents and collectors.

This week, a reader of the Times sent us the latest Dorchester item on the market -- Dorchester Longhorns lip balm, which contains SPF 15 sunscreen.

While the lip balm is available through different outlets, our reader told us in an e-mail that she found hers at the Crete Wal-Mart in the sporting goods section. No other local school lip balms were found in the super store, according to our reader. She also reported that when she paid for her items, the Wal-Mart clerk noted: "Oh good, we have the Longhorn chapstick in again. I know a little girl who really wants this."

It looks like we underestimated the marketability of the Longhorns beyond the Village borders.

If you know of other unique or rare Dorchester-related items for sale, let us know by e-mailing our staff at Dorchester.Times@gmail.com.

10 comments:

AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 8:37 AM
Who makes this stuff?
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AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 8:56 AM
I find it interesting that your poll mentions a Dorchester apparel store. I always thought a shop like that, with part-time and weekend hours, might be a good business venture. With two commercial buildings for sale downtown, maybe the time is right.
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AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Who needs udder balm.................................. I'll use this stuff .......................
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AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 2:13 PM
Walmart-Crete also has Crete Cardinal lip balm. It hangs on the aisle ends in the grocery department.
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AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 6:32 PM
What? No Wilber Wolverine chapstick? It must be that old Crete-Wilber rivalry. The 1950's have returned!
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AnonymousJanuary 7, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Joyce said.........

I tried buying the Longhorn lip balm (I was going to buy abouut 30 and give it to our staff for Christmas) but the lady I asked for help just looked at me like I was from another planet. I looked around and didn't find them so I just left. I'd still like to get some---if anyone can tell me where they are in WalMart I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
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AnonymousJanuary 8, 2009 at 8:42 AM
The chapstick is made by the Webb Candy Co. in Rosemount MN. It is made from real bees wax and is good stuff against the winter winds.
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AnonymousJanuary 8, 2009 at 8:52 AM
They tried to make a Wilber balm, but it tasted like sauerkraut and dumplings.
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AnonymousJanuary 8, 2009 at 9:05 AM
The chapstick is located near the fishing rods and weights in walmart
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AnonymousJanuary 8, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Amusing remark about the Wilber lip balm. I thought you might say it tasted like beer. However, I will still buy the Longhorn chapstick as I need to protect my luscious lips. We Czechs are a hot-blooded group!
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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."