Dorchester Times: Dorchester Plowing Bee This Sunday

Monday, July 8, 2013

Dorchester Plowing Bee This Sunday

As reported first by the Lincoln Journal Star, the second annual Tabor Hall Antique Tractor Plowing Bee and Craft Fair near Dorchester will be held this Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m.

The Lincoln newspaper reports: "Last year, roughly 30 old-style tractors dug into 40 acres, plowing up some nostalgia along with Nebraska soil during the fundraiser for the renovation of historic Tabor Hall. The bee will begin at 1 p.m. about five miles south of Dorchester on land across from Tabor Hall on County Road 1400 and continue until all 40 acres are plowed. Visitors are welcome, and food and refreshments will be available inside the hall, which opens at 11 a.m.

The bee grew from a picnic created so farm neighbors could get out their old tractors and plow like they did years ago -- celebrating Saline County's proud agricultural past. This wonderful demonstration was a unique opportunity to recognize our area's history and progress.

In case you have not yet seen them, last year, photojournalists from the Omaha World-Heard and the Journal Star were present to capture images from the plowing event and preserve memories for the ages. To see the fantastic photos by the World-Herald, click here. For the Journal Star's photo, click here.

Pictured above is Debbie Skalak, who last year drove a 60-year-old International Harvester tractor, as her husband Russ looked. This year, even more tractors are expected to take part.

10 comments:

AnonymousJuly 4, 2012 at 12:02 AM
Nice event for the kiddos.
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AnonymousJuly 4, 2012 at 8:46 PM
Do John Deere riding lawn mowers count? I've got a really old one.
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Cynical RichardJuly 6, 2012 at 9:35 AM
..................... i like my pasture as it is thank you ............................... the only thing thats ever been plowed at my place is me ....................................................... lets keep it that way........................
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AnonymousJuly 8, 2012 at 8:28 PM
This was a neat event and it made the front page of the local section in the Lincoln newspaper.
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AnonymousJuly 13, 2012 at 10:48 AM
I love the Dorchester Times because of stories like these because i hadn't seen this amazing pictures yet.

Thank you.
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AnonymousJuly 13, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Like the Dorchester Times much better than the Journal Star. You'd think the Star would have more photos than the Omaha paper.

Thanks for the links, Dorchester Times!
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AnonymousJuly 15, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Some of you may look at this and sneer.

Others of you may roll your eyes.

Still others just see a bunch of old throwbacks on old equipment.

I just see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZWlDks0nQ
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AnonymousJuly 15, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Some of you may look at this and sneer.

Others of you may roll your eyes.

Still others just see a bunch of old throwbacks on old equipment.

I just see here
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KelseyAugust 15, 2012 at 2:34 PM
I too gathered pictures from it all and added them! Here's the link to the blog article
http://kelseyhomolka-keepingupwithkelsey.blogspot.com/search/label/Dorchester
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AnonymousJuly 10, 2013 at 10:44 PM
I only wish I could attend, and it would be a fantasy to participate. I have to work that weekend......

JR Wolfe
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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."