Dorchester Times: Update: Dorchester's Latest Construction Boom

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Update: Dorchester's Latest Construction Boom

For those of you who say nothing ever changes in Dorchester, the summer of 2014 will be one to remember.

Our community of Dorchester is experiencing another construction boom, generating lots of economic activity for our village.

In total, an estimated $3 million of new commercial construction is coming (or has come) to town.

That does not include the hundreds of thousands of dollars (perhaps more than $1 million) of home renovations that are occurring right now due to storm damage from earlier this summer.

Not bad for a town of 600 residents.

Dorchester's Farmers Cooperative -- one of Nebraska's largest agribusinesses -- is currently breaking ground preparing for an massive expansion of its office headquarters. Moreover, another new, giant silo has started to go up.

This eighth additional silo will complement the original co-op elevator.

The last new silo was completed in 2010.

Some estimates put the co-op's new construction alone at just under $2 million.

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Department of Roads has substantially expanded its Dorchester office facility, located just west of the co-op and its newer silos. The expansion doubled the size of the Department of Roads facilities here in town.

And more construction by the Roads Department appears to be in the works, since the Village of Dorchester has posted a zoning notice on the property west of the DOR office building.

A new agribusiness is being completed on the south end of Dorchester, improving the appearance of Dorchester for those traveling Highway 33.

According to reports, this business will provide seed and fertilizer to area farmers. This marks the first business facility to locate in the south side of Dorchester, at least in modern era.

We've also noticed other expansions around town, such such as ongoing improvement to Barley Specialties. We commend L.J. and all the work he has done to invest in his Dorchester business. He has proved that a small business can be successful in Dorchester.

We have also noticed several homeowners improving their historic homes.

We commend property owners like Julie and Joe Holly, who have boosted Dorchester pride by improving some of our town's most nostalgic and elegant homes.

Since 2008, Dorchester has seen such a fury of new construction -- a new picnic shelter at the city park (thanks to the Community Foundation and its leaders); a new K-12 school and campus renovation (thanks to the district voters and taxpayers); a new concessions shack and restroom facility at Nerud Field (thanks to several volunteers and community leaders); a new water tower and new wells (thanks again to our taxpayers); and several building improvements.

3 comments:

Don HoffmanAugust 3, 2014 at 12:15 PM
This is a wonderful thing for our town! Projects like this will improve the economic viability of the town and attract more business and residents. This is truly an ideal place to live, the town has what many places lack...character! The community comes together for things that need doing. The residents are always looking for ways to preserve and improve our small town atmosphere. We should all be proud of where we live and promote Dorchester whenever possible! Stay positive and keep smiling!
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 3, 2014 at 1:34 PM
you know, after years of hearing people talk about how they wish things would improve, i gotta admit many people are finally ponying up and putting their money where their mouths are.

Looks good, Dorch! I Agree with the post above.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 3, 2014 at 7:27 PM
I only get to Dorchester once a year in September and I like walking around town and see some differences.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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."