Dorchester Times: Streets Are Focus Of Discussion On Open Forum

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Streets Are Focus Of Discussion On Open Forum

The condition of Dorchester streets and the question of paving continue to be the main topics of discussion at this month's Open Forum post, located below.

Click here to see the lastest comments from readers.

The issue of street paving has been one of the most frequently mentioned topics by readers of this blog, as evidenced by these old posts.

7 comments:

AnonymousMarch 2, 2010 at 7:05 AM
The picture shows we don't need paving, we did drainage first.
Jake
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Phil WardMarch 2, 2010 at 10:32 AM
FIrst thing is just make sure when they start paving the streets there are sidewalks put in as well. No since in doing half the job. Second thing I know that Crete is replacing part of 13th street this year. In the process of doing that they are replacing water, sewer lines, and taking some of the electrical lines and putting them under ground instead of having poles. I think that is something that Dorchester should look into doing when they start paving streets. I know people are going to say that cost alot of money but I remember hearing that all of it was covered by stimulas money. Why cant Dorchester apply for that money or get grants to pay for some of the work.
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AnonymousMarch 2, 2010 at 8:56 PM
I heard U2 is remaking their classic hit and renaming after Dorchester.

"Where the Streets Have No Drain"
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AnonymousMarch 3, 2010 at 10:12 AM
i just heard that the village is going down the streets with a grader and a tractor....oh i hope it is true, and if so thank you!!
i was also wondering, could they put some rock or gravel down on our roads? we need to restructure the base of our roads and where we have to park by our houses.
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AnonymousMarch 3, 2010 at 11:03 AM
While I am sitting here, there is a trctor going by dragging a blade across the mudpit in the road in front here. Do you really think this is going to help, NO IT IS NOT HELPING. When you drive over it, it goes right back to what it was. HELLO, FRICKEN WAKE UP, PUT ROCK DOWN, oh yeah you might have to spend some money.
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AnonymousMarch 4, 2010 at 12:19 AM
I forgot to mention that they were plowing frozen mud this morning which was not doing any good. lol
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AnonymousMarch 8, 2010 at 6:57 PM
blading our muddy streets isnt going to do any good until they dry up. Once they dry up 1 inch rock should be put down as a base instead of the gravel. Besides all our gravel is in the drainage ditches from the motor grader plowing snow this winter. If everyone in town gets out a shovel I think we can get most of our gravel back on the streets
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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."