Dorchester Times: Dorchester Street Plan To Be Unveiled Monday Night

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Dorchester Street Plan To Be Unveiled Monday Night

Citzens of Dorchester: The condition of our community's streets is a favorite topic around here. Now is your chance to stop complaining and tell the people who can actually do something about it.

On Monday, Feb. 3, the Dorchester Village Board will hold a review and listening session of the village's six-year road and street plan.

This public event will start at 7 p.m. sharp in the Community Building, in conjunction with the village board meeting.

If you're tired of the muddy road that fronts your home, or you're concerned about worn pavement, now is the time to weigh in.

One thing to keep in mind: Since the days of the "great paving debate of 1979," the Times estimates that the Village of Dorchester has spent roughly $2 million on upkeep of gravel roads (not including labor).

The cost of maintaining the streets, even in a small town, doesn't come inexpensively.

7 comments:

AnonymousJanuary 20, 2014 at 5:49 PM
Has the "Dweller" checked its information regarding 30 years of expenditures for gravel? For that amount it should be about 3 ft deep in the entire village. I really think the real number would be in the $200 thousand range.
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Village DwellerJanuary 20, 2014 at 6:08 PM
Hello, Anonymous:

In our estimates, in addition to 35 years worth of gravel, we included the cost of a maintainer, as well as its fuel.

Also, we included the cost of replacement culverts, crushed rock to fill potholes, and other general maintenance of graveled streets.

It is an estimate only, but one we believe is accurate over a 35-year span.

-Dorchester Times Staff
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AnonymousFebruary 3, 2014 at 1:27 PM
PAVEMENT PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!
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TedFebruary 3, 2014 at 5:19 PM
I'm sitting here in my hole-filled boxer shorts trying to determine what I hate most in life:

- The snippy comments of housewives who seem to have nothing better to do than air their grievances on facebook. OR

- The negative comments left on this blog from pathetic people who obviously don't live in Dorchester but are intent on running her down. OR

- The 'Just Say No To Paving' crowd who are still picketing like it's 1979.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Decisions, decisions.

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AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 11:43 AM
Bloggers got it wrong. Nothing to do with paving
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AnonymousFebruary 4, 2014 at 5:43 PM
I don't think they did say it was all about paving , they said this would be the opportunity to raise concerns. I didn't hear you raise them since I was there.

\ THE WATCHER
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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."