Dorchester Times: Survey Results: Your Thoughts On Dorchester

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Survey Results: Your Thoughts On Dorchester

The results are in from a new Dorchester Times survey regarding life in our community.

We wanted to know why you live here -- or would live here if you could. Moreover, we wanted your thoughts on how we can make life even better in Dorchester.

Lots of you responded. Here is what you said:

QUESTION 1

More than two-thirds of you (67%) said you live in Dorchester, or would like to, because this is where your family resides or you grew up here. (We think this large number reinforces the need to impress upon our area youth that we want them to always feel welcome in Dorchester and that we're looking for ways to keep them here, even after they go away for higher education or training.) Another 28% of you cited Dorchester's community life or quality school as the reason you live here or would like to.

QUESTION 2

Regarding how you would make Dorchester an even better place to live -- if given only one option -- our readers were more split. However, about 60% of you said you think paving at least parts of Dorchester would greatly enhance quality of life here. Another large block (31%) would like to see more local business here to improve the Dorchester experience. Nearly 15% said more investment in new housing and home renovation would help.

One reader offered his/her own suggestion: "Plant thousands of flowering trees, or alternatively, sugar maples for beautiful fall foliage so that people would go out of their way to check out Dorchester."

The survey was taken over the period of Nov. 9-13.

3 comments:

AnonymousNovember 14, 2013 at 6:33 PM
Your survey can't seem to be very accurate. Only 28 people isn't much of a base to go off.
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Village DwellerNovember 14, 2013 at 9:04 PM
Dear Reader:

We are uncertain how you arrived at your figures.

Readers from 49 separate households/computers voted over a period of 40 hours. Considering the Dorchester Times averages between 400-450 hits per day, our staff deemed that sufficient time and participation to tally the results.

Moreover, considering Dorchester's adult population is around 300, the vote is representative.

Of course, we never claimed this was a scientific poll.

Thanks for your observations.

- Dorchester Times Staff
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AnonymousNovember 15, 2013 at 10:07 AM
"Your survey can't seem to be very accurate." Not an English major, I take it.
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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."