Dorchester Times: This Saturday Night: DVFD 100th Anniversary Dinner & Dance

Thursday, June 26, 2014

This Saturday Night: DVFD 100th Anniversary Dinner & Dance

Dorchester's very own volunteer fire department is celebrating its 100th anniversary celebration.

It's difficult to believe our community could survive without the DVFD for 32 years after the village's official incorporation.

To celebrate our town's brave first responders, a 100th anniversary celebration is planned for Saturday, June 28 at Tabor Hall.

A tremendous dinner will be provided by Bodacious Butts and Bones, beginning at 6 p.m.

The band Silas Creek will be playing from 8 p.m. until midnight. DHS alum Anne Kovar Tidblom is a member of the band, so be sure to catch them. Hottest act since Elvis, we are told.

Meal is a free-will donation. Cash bar.

For those who cannot attend, but would like to mail a donation, just send it to:

DVFD

P.O.Box 36

Dorchester, NE 68343

All donations will go towards the purchase of new equipment.

3 comments:

Village DwellerMay 2, 2014 at 1:45 PM
We thought our readers would like to know a little more about the 1927 fire engine pictured in the photo.

This Chevy truck was donated to the Dorchester Fire Department in the early '70s, back when Harry Axline was chief. The truck itself was assembled by the DVFD members in 1928, with most the work being done by Henry Sehnert, according to information in the 1981 Centennial Book. Cost of the vehicle: $514.50.

Sehnert drove this truck in the 1981 centennial parade.

Members of the 1928 DVFD were: Claude Kennedy (chief), Ralph Matthews (ass't. chief), Vivian Kenney (sec.-treasurer), William Lint (foreman 1st lead), Frank Andelt (nozzle), Ernie Simpson (hydrant), E. Willis (hoseman), K. Hillis, R.L. Davis, E. Cloyd, O.D. Ross, E. Dainton, James Britton, Henry Sehnert, Tom Simmins, William Dainton, Fred August.

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AnonymousMay 7, 2014 at 8:38 AM
I really hope that any one unable to attend will donate to the dept. We are very fourtanate to have such a great group of people watching our backs. Many times while we are snug in our beds, thay are out on weather watch, fighting a fire, or cleaning up after a car wreck. They deserve all the support we can give them!!!
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AnonymousMay 12, 2014 at 10:02 AM
Thank you DVFD for you dedication and hard work. We need you.
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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."