Dorchester Times: Swan City: Saline County's First County Seat

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Swan City: Saline County's First County Seat

The Times staff is proud of Saline County's rich history -- not only the storied past of our own community, but also the history of other communities in our area, including those that no longer exist.

More than 157 years ago, on Feb. 17, 1866, the Saline County Board held its very first meeting at Swan City -- a town that would cede its county-seat title to Pleasant Hill just five years later in 1871.

Two decades later, Swan City would completely disappear.

Swan City, which was located a few miles west of present-day DeWitt, was Saline County's first community and county seat. Situated in the fork of Turkey Creek and Swan Creek, from which it took its name, Swan City held prominence for only a few years. But it did have its share of businesses, including a general store and a sawmill, both built in 1865.

Soon after, in the post-Civil War period, the thriving business center added a hotel and another store.

The O'Connor Circus spent a few winters in Swan City, according to our research.

Over its short life, Swan City grew to approximately 200 residents, a respectable population for a community on the Plains at that time.

But in 1871 -- just five years after the town's establishment -- the county seat was moved from Swan City to Pleasant Hill.

That same year, the railroad was built roughly three miles from Swan City. Since most early Nebraska settlers wanted to be near the railroad, most residents moved to either DeWitt or Wilber or Pleasant Hill, signaling the death of Saline County's first town.

Swan City's flour mill continued to operate until it burned down in 1891, the year when Swan City officially joined the list of Nebraska's ghost towns.

Today, a state historical marker along Highway 103 designates the approximate location of the community.

Swan City: Gone but not forgotten.

5 comments:

UnknownFebruary 18, 2010 at 11:20 AM
Fascinating! I vaguely remember learning about this in 4th grade, but this is a much more detailed account. A very poignant reminder that history isn't kind to small communities.
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AnonymousFebruary 18, 2010 at 12:26 PM
Small communities are the future unless you really think the current trends are sustatinable. If you do, by all means stay in the big city.
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UnknownFebruary 18, 2010 at 12:32 PM
Anonymous,

I agree, 100%, but it's going to take a major change in attitude to get everyone to realize that. Until that happens, more smaller communities are going to go the way of Swan City.
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AnonymousFebruary 18, 2010 at 1:11 PM
Small communities are the future? In the Great Plains, small communities continue to lose their population base.
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AnonymousFebruary 18, 2010 at 6:54 PM
What happens when the dollar crashes and food riots become commonplace? Will small towns even want the influx of masses from the urban centers?

My bet is the small towns will guard the village gates -- with loaded rifles. Just a hunch.
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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."