Dorchester Times: What Do You Like Best About Dorchester? In 140 Words Or Less

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

What Do You Like Best About Dorchester? In 140 Words Or Less

We at the Dorchester Times don't subscribe toTwitter, the online social network that allows users to post comments ("tweets") of only 140 characters or less.

We have never really understood the appeal of Twitter. So you won't see the Dorchester Times utilizing that platform anytime soon.

Still, we know our readers appreciate concise, substantive comments from fellow readers.

We also know most of our readers like positive commentary.

So our challenge for readers today is this: We want to hear what you like best about Dorchester -- in 140 words or less.

Why do you live here? What is an overlooked aspect of Dorchester life?

If you've moved away, what do you miss about home?

If you are a long-time resident, what good qualities have stayed the same or improved?

We all need to be reminded of our many blessings from time to time. Here is your chance to remind readers why they should be grateful that the community of Dorchester is a part of their lives.

7 comments:

ObserverMay 23, 2012 at 12:01 PM
I like that fact we're like Cheers -- everyone says hi and knows your name.
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AnonymousMay 23, 2012 at 4:09 PM
When I was a kid, I could go down town and visit with the old veterans who used to sit on the bench by the barber shop. There was one Spanish American War Veteran who's name I cannot recall and my grandpa's fellow Dough Boy veterans. I learned a reat deal from those old gentlemen.

And then there were the WWII veterans who actually ran the community. Business flourished, and if you did something wrong, you knew it would get back to your parents and grandparents......that kept us honset!!

JR Wolfe
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cynical richardMay 23, 2012 at 4:23 PM
Best thing about doruchester????????????? were not crete................................and you dont need a spanish/english dictionary in town ...........................................not yet anyway......................................and the streets arent all torn up like the constant mess in crete....................................did i mention were not crete??????????????????????
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AnonymousMay 24, 2012 at 9:19 AM
best things about dorchester:

1. down to earth people
2. our good school
3. our farmer owned cooperative
4. our quiet, peaceful community
5. affordable living
6. prideful past
7. proximity to lincoln, seward, I80
8. our church
9. our senior citizens
10. our kids and our future!
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AnonymousMay 24, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Dorchester Times baby!
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AnonymousMay 24, 2012 at 2:03 PM
No traffic or annoying stop lights. I work in Lincoln and I can't begin to tell you how much I detest that city and it's 1.34 million stop lights placed every 10 feet on major streets.
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BWMay 25, 2012 at 10:32 AM
We have a handful of leaders in this town (you know who you are) who are always volunteering in one way or another and always keeping 'the greater good' of our community in mind. Wish we had more of them. Let's encourage those folks and help others get more involved. Everyone needs skin in the game.
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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."