Dorchester Times: Visit To Saline County Museum Is A Worthwhile Trip

Monday, January 7, 2013

Visit To Saline County Museum Is A Worthwhile Trip

"History is who we are and why the way we are."
~ David McCullough

"You have to know the past to understand the present."
~ Dr. Carl Sagan

We believe one of our area's real gems is the Saline County Museum. Today, we want to spotlight this attraction so you can start making your family's plans to visit when normal operating hours resume this spring.

The museum, located off Highway 33 in Dorchester, is one of Saline County's most visited and most popular sites. It is also one of the most affordable (free) family attractions in southeast Nebraska.

Ten buildings are located on five acres of land, including a chapel, railroad depot, a one room schoolhouse, voting hall, post office, log cabin and an agricultural machinery building.

The museum's most unique exhibit, "In Loving Memory", is located in the chapel and depicts the way early Nebraskans dealt wit

h death and funeral customs. This exhibit is the only one of its kind in Nebraska.

The Saline County Museum is operated strictly by volunteers. Hours in the spring, summer and autumn are Sundays, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. While there is no admission fee, donations are accepted.

Start planning now to visit the museum this spring -- and retrace your Saline County roots.

10 comments:

co. rd. 1300May 5, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Saline county does have a gem in its museum and I hope people take advantage of it!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
DC HuskerMay 5, 2009 at 9:45 PM
Good luck and thank you to the volunteer staff. :)
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 5, 2009 at 10:06 PM
I love that place!!!!!!!!!! Go Huskers!!!!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2009 at 9:11 AM
I am glad to see this info on here. We drive by it so often and never stop due to not knowing much about the hours and what it has to offer. You have defidently created a curiosity, and we will have to visit. Thank you SO much for this ifo ! ! !
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2009 at 10:43 AM
My favorite is the old Dorchester railroad depot. What a journey back into time that building is. It feels like you're stepping back into the 1920s or 1930s. When you hear an approaching train coming on the tracks across the highway, you actually feel like your waiting for your ride as you move around the depot.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 6, 2009 at 1:56 PM
no ... the log cabin is best.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 7, 2009 at 11:09 PM
The Exeter/Milligan 2nd and 8th graders spent a Pioneer School Day there today and it was a great day. A very interested and enthusiastic group of kids. It is a great place for school outings and or group outings besides individuals just stopping by.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 8, 2009 at 3:47 PM
My grandmother, (and Greg Tyser's)Libby (Wanek) Stirba was born in the log cabin in 1910. Of course they did not know it was a log cabin until years later when it was about to be torn down.

I guess grandpa Joe used to joke he would have never married grandma had he known she was born in a log cabin.

JR Wolfe
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMarch 6, 2011 at 4:38 PM
My grandfather was the depot agent in that depot from 1922 or 23 till the early 1960's. My brother and I would go there as kids to visit with him. My mom lived in that depot when it had a second story. My grandfather was a good painter/artist and some of his pics are in the museum. He was C.C. Whitcomb. My other grandfather Miller owned the implement store on main street just across from the bank.
ReplyDelete
Replies
museum volunteerJanuary 11, 2013 at 10:18 PM
The museum now has sidewalks to each of the buildings so they are all accessible for wheelchairs, walkers etc. and just make it easier for the rest of us to get around. Thanks for the article about the museum. We are always looking for members or volunteers to be a part of the care of the museum. It is such a special place to be. Come see us.
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."