Dorchester Times: WANTED: Your Ideas To Make Our Town, School Even Better

Thursday, May 17, 2012

WANTED: Your Ideas To Make Our Town, School Even Better

Let us be clear: We think Dorchester is a wonderful place to grow up, raise a family and retire. It's safe, clean and affordable.

We like it here -- a lot.

But we can always make our village and our school better. New approaches and new ideas can always be utilized.

We want to hear your suggestions on how our village services, town administration, school operations, and the business community could be improved.

No idea is too "outside of the box" for this discussion.

Regardless of your age or situation, if you live in Dorchester, you have a stake in how are community fares. You are a direct investor in our village. And your family's future here matters.

Please keep your comments civil and constructive, and be respectful of elected officials and volunteers who have the guts to put their name out there.

9 comments:

DiggerMay 17, 2012 at 11:21 AM
I'd like to see a school board advisory committee, made up of several representatives of elementary, jr high and h.s. parents. At board meetings, these individuals could report some of the concerns they hear from fellow parents and ideas on how to address them.
ReplyDelete
Replies
RayMay 17, 2012 at 11:28 AM
I'd like to see a nuisance code adopted and enforced. Unlicensed cars, abandoned structures and trash heaps have no business in our so called "clean" town.
ReplyDelete
Replies
diane velderMay 17, 2012 at 1:32 PM
I would like to see the bathrooms at the park, get a update. I would be willing to clean them, but they need alot of work, better lighting, paper towel and toliet paper holders, and toliets, and lids, and the steel doors, are getting bad, I know it takes money, but make them look nice and I think people would appreciate them better. I know the board,is very busy with lots of other things, but its just a suggestion.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 17, 2012 at 3:38 PM
You want 'outside the box'??? How about talking to high schoolers and the business teacher at DHS about starting an 'entreprenuer class' where students run a convenience store on main street? The bank has just been named the best rural lender in the state, so they could loan the class start-up money with donations from the community and cheap rent provided by a landlord or city-owned property. thats my two cents.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 18, 2012 at 10:52 AM
a pool!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 18, 2012 at 11:22 AM
I think if town residents just took 30 minutes to attend the city and school board meetings once a month, they would feel more connected and more invested in our collective future.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 18, 2012 at 2:03 PM
The Dorchester 7-12 students took time from thier last day of school to paint fire hydrants, curbs, a shed, and fence.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 20, 2012 at 11:26 PM
I would have to agree with 'Ray'. I grew up in Dorchester in the 70's and 80's, when people kept their houses and property up and showed pride in Dorchester. Now I live out of state and when I do come back to see friends, I can't believe how the town looks like a dump. My wife just laughs when we drive around town; she counts the cars in yards, delapitated houses, grass and weeds growing tall, etc, etc. Have some pride people.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMay 22, 2012 at 8:30 PM
There are some great suggestions on here! Thanks to those who provide helpful suggestions to improve our school and town. You are the type of people that keep a community going. To those who just nag and complain, turn your words into actions and don't just be lazy and sit back and complain. Do something!
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."