Dorchester Times: This Christmas, Give The Gift Of Dorchester History

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

This Christmas, Give The Gift Of Dorchester History

Are you searching for a unique, meaningful last-minute Christmas gift? We suggest searching the Internet for items from Dorchester's rich past.

We found this picture of Dorchester's Christian Church, likely taken around 1908, when the church was built on the NW corner of 9th and Jefferson. It included a tank behind the alter, since the members of the Christian Church practiced total immersion for baptism. From the best we can tell, the 1908 Christian Church in town replaced this one from an earlier era.

Both postcards featuring the two Dorchester Christian Churches are for sale -- and both are amazingly crisp, clear photographs.

We also found some very unique tokens, which were used by Dorchester retailers as a promotion to lure more customers into the story. This beautiful brass token was issued by A.W. Simons on Dorchester's Main Street. Simons' drug store operated from 1895 to 1905. It was good for 5 cents' worth of merchandise. Click here to see several similar coins.

We also found this unique square token -- good for 1 cent in merchandise -- distributed by F.B. Ireland's Grocery and Dry Goods store, which operated in Dorchester from 1900 to 1919. It was located in the space that currently is home to the community building and American Legion Hall.

Finally, we came across this 2005 Dorchester Public School yearbook. One member of our staff thinks this was a particularly good year for Dorchester High, for whatever reason.

These items and many others are out there. We encourage to take a stroll on the Web for items uniquely Dorchester -- and make your loved ones' Christmas something special!

3 comments:

Roger SchmiddtMarch 8, 2013 at 3:24 PM
The picture of the Christian church was the second Christian church. Not sure when it was built. My parents rented the parsonage for that church. The parsonage was just west of the church. In the picture you can just see a portion of the parsonage. The church closed while I was in grade school and my parents purchased the parsonage. In about 1946or7 the church was sold to a Mr. Divolky south of town and he tore it down and used the lumber to build a house on his farm. My parents purchased the lot where the church was built and in 1956 they build on the old church basemant. Frank Mariska built the house. After the church was torn down they left the baptism tank sitting on the ground just north of the hole. It was a concrete tank and we kids would fill it with water in the summer time and go for a swim...Guess we all got baptized several times...We also used to catch pigeons in the bellfary. When he pews were taken out, we used to roller skate in the sanctuary. What fun...Those were the days..

Roger
Schmidt
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Village DwellerMarch 10, 2013 at 7:28 PM
Thank you for the story, Roger.
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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."