Dorchester Times: NEWS BRIEFS: Co-op Plays Role In Trade Mission

Thursday, August 13, 2009

NEWS BRIEFS: Co-op Plays Role In Trade Mission

Dorchester's Farmers Co-op Participates In Trade Mission: According to the Web site Grain Net, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program recently helped the U.S. Grains Council host a "sorghum-focused trade mission in Kansas and Nebraska" -- and one of the stops included Dorchester. The mission's goal was to bring together potential Mexican buyers and U.S. sellers of grain sorghum and turn those relationships into sales opportunities. As part of the trade mission, 11 buyers visited a variety of elevators, grain processing sites and sorghum growers throughout Kansas and Nebraska. Specific stops during the July 16-18 mission included Farmers Cooperative in Dorchester.

Miss Czech Slovak Pageant Seeks Dorchester-Area Contestants: Each year, the Miss Czech Slovak U.S. Pageant is held in Wilber during the Wilber Czech Festival. In its 23 years, the pageant has hosted more than 225 contestants trying to become the next Miss Czech Slovak U.S. Queen. Currently, nine states have Miss Czech Slovak Pageants. Area females who are ages 16-26, single, and of Czech or Slovak decent may compete for the national title and more than $10,000 in cash and prizes. Travel opportunities also await the pageant winner; the 2008 queen traveled more than 20,000 miles promoting the Czech and Slovak heritage, preservation and continuing relationships. For more information, go to the Miss Czech Slovak Web site by clicking here, or contact Mary Elizabeth Lackey, Miss Czech Slovak U.S. pageant director, at (785) 317-5010.

Dorchester Polka Scene Headlines Polka Catalog: Speaking of Czech heritage, the Dorchester polka scene is well represented on an online retail site selling polka CDs, tapes, t-shirts and other polka-related items. PolkaCatalog.com -- whose motto is "Happy Music for Happy People" -- offers recordings by Dorchester polka artists including the U-Neta Orchestra and Hank Zahourek and his orchestra. See the listings of Dorchester polka artists by clicking here.

3 comments:

AnonymousAugust 13, 2009 at 11:53 AM
you guys must be getting big bucks from companies if you are running ads for them

you are nothing but a cheerleeder for big biz

pathetic
ReplyDelete
Replies
Maggie ThatcherAugust 13, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Polka-Rama, baby. Those were the days!

"I don't want her, you can have her, she's too fat for me. Oh, she's too fat for me. She's too fat for me."

Put that in your politically correct pipe and puff on it.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 14, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Put simply, HANK ROCKED!
ReplyDelete
Replies

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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."