Dorchester Times: The Times: They Are A-Changin'

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Times: They Are A-Changin'

Two-and-a-half years after publishing our first post, the Dorchester Times is making a change. Beginning immediately, the Web site will no longer feature stories or editorials written by our staff.

When the Dorchester Times first went online in April 2007, we envisioned a Web site that would serve as a community bulletin board and discussion forum, with content composed and submitted by town residents. We have enjoyed writing stories and keeping residents abreast on the issues affecting our town. But now the Times is turning over the reporting duties to you -- the residents of the Dorchester area. The Times is a communications tool that is there for you to use, if you wish.

As a service to our community, we will still maintain the site and update its contents daily. However, beginning today, the only stories and commentary on the Times will be those submitted to us by Dorchester area residents and natives of the community -- or those based on news releases sent to our publication.

Readers are invited to send us notices of future events; summaries of gatherings or meetings; reviews of school activities or sporting events; and anything else related to Dorchester or its residents. Content will be reviewed and edited, for content and clarity, by our staff.

We ask that all material submitted to us (Dorchester.Times@gmail.com) include basic information answering: Who? What? Where? And when?

We will continue feature Web links to Dorchester-related stories appearing in the news media. Also, we will still post the "Open Forum" feature that allows residents to comment on topics of their choosing. Letters-to-the-editors, births, obituaries and other items for the left-hand column are also still welcome to keep readers informed.

We thank our readers for their continued loyalty to our site and, more importantly, our community. We also welcome your ideas on how to improve the Dorchester Times and the service it provides area residents and natives.

3 comments:

Vested CzechSeptember 30, 2009 at 6:28 PM
I understand your dilemma. It is difficult to constantly generate new material with a volunteer staff. In fact, it is difficult even when you are paid! I worked in small-market television in Nebraska and small-market radio in Pennsylvania. Due to a limited budget and staff, we covered a lot of municipal meetings to fill up air space. It seems that you must first be independently wealthy in order to be a full-time muckraker.

Cheers!
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AnonymousOctober 1, 2009 at 8:48 AM
Not sure about this idea.... Who is going to check the facts of the stories? There are some crazy people in the world who may just write bogus stories or slightly twisted stories. Perhaps you could create a Forum within the Dorchester Times. So the Times "staff" (along with other writers) will continue their stories with the comment option, along with a forum link where readers/bloggers can go nuts. Just playin a little spit-ball.
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AnonymousOctober 1, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Sad to hear this.
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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."