Dorchester Times: Support Your Local Community This Holiday Season

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Support Your Local Community This Holiday Season

As the Christmas shopping season continues -- and many of you are still searching for last-minute gifts -- readers are urged to consider buying locally to support their friends and neighbors.

Purchasing gift certificates or locally produced items instead of items made in China, which continues to prepare for war with the U.S. and its citizens by using the money it receives from the goods we import.

One e-mail that circulated throughout the country just a few years ago put it this way:

"Christmas shouldn't mean draining American pockets to help China build and retool its military arsenal or capture more land for its communist rulers. Christmas should be about caring, helping our neighbors, and encouraging America's small-business owners to keep following their dreams. When care about our communities, we invest in our shared future. The benefits come back to us in ways we cannot imagine."

Here are some suggestions on how you can be a part of the effort to help the local economy:

Buy locally made products whenever possible. Local business provide local jobs.
Give gift certificates for local restaurants and service providers.

In Dorchester, think about getting gift certificates for The Well spa and health products; Donna's Hair Creations; Farmers Cooperative service station; City Slickers Bar and Grill; Eastside Bar and Grill; Tyser Repair and Tyser Auto Sales; Barley's Specialties; Spring Creek Repair; and others.

To support nearby businesses, consider gifts from Blue River Meats in Crete; Frank's Smokehouse or Karpisek's Market in Wilber; or a number of service providers or retailers in Crete, Wilber, Friend or Milford.
Consider gift certificates from Rico's Mexican Restaurant in Friend or Carniceria San Fernando Grocery, owned by Rico and Vanessa Perez of Dorchester. Or perhaps Pizza Hut, Burger King, or Casey's.

Leave us your ideas in the comments section of this post.

14 comments:

small town galNovember 13, 2012 at 10:41 AM
How about giving Donna's Hair Creations gift certificates to all your moms, daughters and sisters, aunts and grandmas.
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AnonymousNovember 13, 2012 at 11:19 AM
I'm from crete but does dorchester still have that candle shop on main street? i would recommend getting candles there they are soooo good. i need to get down there again.
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AnonymousNovember 13, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Blue Door Country Candles are open Monday-Friday from 2pm-8pm. Saturdays 9am-12pm. Gift Certificates are available as well.
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Big JimNovember 13, 2012 at 2:12 PM
Gift certs to Joe's Place.

If my kids are reading, I WANT THEM!
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AnonymousNovember 13, 2012 at 3:33 PM
can you get gas certificates at the coop?
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AnonymousNovember 13, 2012 at 3:35 PM
also I recommend using l.j. barley if you need any body work done on your vehicle
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AnonymousNovember 14, 2012 at 9:07 AM
How about volunteering to help people clean up their properties

That would save the village tons in lawyer fees
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AnonymousNovember 14, 2012 at 9:33 AM
buy a new preowned vehicle from our only car dealer
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AnonymousNovember 14, 2012 at 11:27 AM
I will make a stop soon at our town's only antique dealer!
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AnonymousNovember 14, 2012 at 2:30 PM
The Coop does have gift certs, they can be purchased in any denominations. Also, don't forget Crete Cares, help to give someone in the Dorchester area a nice Christmas dinner either through a donation or help pack & deliver boxes.
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AnonymousNovember 14, 2012 at 4:26 PM
My
comment would be:

A way to generate action by all property owners is that in the cleanup notice advise that:

1. 30 days will be allowed to fully comply in cleaning the property.

2. If the notice is not FULLY complied with, then have a Village clean up crew accomplish the task.

3. After a Village clean up, file a lien for that clean up cost w/the County Court House in Wilber.

These simple steps should resolve the problem and negate the constant complaints and educate all
property owners as to their responsibilities. Some folks you can reason with and be nice, others it is
totally futile and in the end costs more in both ill feelings and greater legal costs.

Best Regards,

DUANE WHEEELER
265 Coyote Ridge, Kerrville, TX,78028
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AnonymousNovember 15, 2012 at 8:53 AM
Tell the city workers thank you for putting up all those decorations. Always a nice sight.
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Donna ParksNovember 28, 2012 at 10:13 PM
Who ever you are small town gal I appreciate the effort on the gift certificates I am truly thankful!! and to the people who have supported my business.I have worked very hard and will continue to do so !!!! Merry Christmas to all
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big mammaDecember 23, 2013 at 9:41 PM
gift certificates for a massage I got mine at The Well / the Thompson mansion
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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."