Dorchester Times: Jr. High Presents 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' On March 31

Monday, March 30, 2009

Jr. High Presents 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' On March 31

The public is invited to attend the Dorchester Junior Hig

h School's theater production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" tomorrow evening, March 31.

In addition to the play, high school and junior high drama and speech awards for the 2008-2009 school year will be presented at 7 p.m. in the school cafeteria. The play will begin in the new multi-purpose room/theater immediately following the award ceremony.

Admission price for the play is $3 for kindergarten students through adults.

The Times has learned that audience members will be treated to a new twist in the use of technology used to enhance the play's scenery. OompaLoompas (K-4 grade students) and Oompa Loompa helpers (5th grade ladies) will also be on hand to add to the entertainment.

Concessions will be offered during intermission. A donation can will be available for free-will donations, which will be used to purchase a permanent bracket for a projector to be used in future productions.

4 comments:

Greta GarboMarch 30, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Good luck future thespians!
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Wonka fanMarch 30, 2009 at 8:44 PM
I saw the performance today and it is wonderful!!! Good job junior high, Mrs. Ridpath, Mrs. Lujtemeyer, and Adam!! It's worth the evening out.
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AnonymousMarch 31, 2009 at 10:06 PM
The cast and crew did a wonderful job with the Jr. High play. Thank you Mrs. Ridpath and Mrs. Lujtemeyer for all your hard work. The projections on the back wall were great. Everyone who was involved deserves a big round of applause.
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AnonymousApril 1, 2009 at 10:35 AM
It was very cute. I hope that we will get a microphone set up. So that everyone could hear. It will come with time. Good Job Kids.
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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."