Dorchester Times: Letters From The Times Mailbag

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Letters From The Times Mailbag

Occasionally, we like to share with our readers some of the recent feedback we've received. Today we're taking time to do just that.

We enjoy hearing directly from our readers. Whether it's about what we are doing right or not so right, your input matters.

Below are some selected e-mails we've found in our official inbox (Dorchester.Times@gmail.com) throughout the past year. The actual names have not been published to protect readers' identities.

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Short note to advise that I thoroughly enjoy receiving the "Dorchester Times"! The folks who put the news letter together should be congratulated on a job extremely well done! While the town is small, it is a nice laid back place to live. While I wouldn't want to see Dorchester explode in growth like Crete and it's problems, it would be nice if a few more stores would elect to move in to offer some needed amenities.

-D.
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This is just a quick letter of gratitude to let the Times know how much some of us appreciate all the history stories you guys publish. A lot of this history is being lost as the older generation passes on. Keep up the good work.

-J.
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The Dorchester Times should be ashamed of yourselves for constantly trying push paving [streets] in our town. You did it again with your recent survey. You must all be rich because most Dorchester residents couldn't afford the cost associated with new paved streets. Most of us can barely afford property taxes as they are now. Quit trying to stir the pot by being a paving pusher. If you don't like our town as it is is, there are several exits out of town and I'll be happy to show you the door!!!

-Unsigned
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One thing I like about your blog is that it shows some community initiative. While I don't always agree with the editorial content of some of your stories, I am glad you are stepping up and filling a void in our community, in this case the lack of a newspaper or other news source. We need others to do the same whether it is coaching kids, opening businesses, joining or running volunteer organizations, running for elected offices like town board or school board, or just looking out for the safety and well-being of their neighborhood.

-S.
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When will you reveal the Times staff members? Will we ever know who is the "Village Dweller?" The world is dying to know. Lol!

-B.

3 comments:

AnonymousDecember 16, 2013 at 8:50 PM
isn't there a massage business opened at Dorchester?
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brentskiDecember 17, 2013 at 3:42 PM
Note to Unsigned - If the streets were paved there might be more people who decide to live in Dorchester and would pay property taxes for those streets. Have you looked at the notice with your tax statement and seen how little of the total actually goes to the Village of Dorchester anyway. Another thought, if they did pave those streets if you don't like our town as it could be, there are several exits out of town and I'll be happy to show you the door!!
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AnonymousDecember 20, 2013 at 12:03 PM
I know Dorchester was awarded 250.000.00 for home improvements for low income. I had applied and never did hear a word. Please let us know the status of that money and where it went to.

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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."