Dorchester Times: Dorchester's Family Ties To The AL Baseball Championship

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Dorchester's Family Ties To The AL Baseball Championship

Dorchester has strong family ties to this year's Major League championship series in the American League between the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals.

One of the star pitchers for the Orioles, Kevin Gausman, traces his family roots back to Dorchester. His grandfather, Clarence, and father, Clair, were both athletes at Dorchester; it's only fitting that Kevin is wearing the mighty Orange and Black in the Major Leagues.

Those who knew Kevin's dad, Clair, during his days at Dorchester can tell you he was serious on the field, too. A 1969 DHS graduate, and known by his Longhorn teammates as "Gomez," Clair was a key part of the 7-1 football team in 1968. He was all-conference for the 18-4 DHS basketball team in 1969, helping to ensure the squad finished No. 6 in the state his senior year.

Clair would go on to graduate from Nebraska Wesleyan University, and earn graduate degrees from the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Denver. Clair served as president of the Colorado Football Officials Association and the Colorado Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Many Dorchester residents know Clair made the big time by officiating Division I college football for 25 years -- working in the Western Athletic Conference, Mountain West Conference, Big 12 Conference and Conference USA. He was selected to referee 14 bowl games.

Today, Clair is a retired educator with the Cherry Creek, Colo., School District and is now owner of Windmark Centennial Insurance. Clair and his wife Jo live in Centennial, Colo.

They have three grown children, including Kevin, 23, who is on the mound for the Orioles.

Kevin attended Louisiana State University (LSU), where he was an All-American. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the first round in 2012 -- fourth overall draft. He signed with the Orioles for $4.32 million on July 13, 2012. Kevin throws four pitches, all with above average velocity: a four seam fastball at 96-99 MPH (tops out at 100), a slider at 83-86, a splitter at 84-86 and a change up at 84-89, according to Wikipedia.

Kevin and the Orioles will be fighting to keep their season alive, trailing the Royal 0-2 in the ALCS. The teams will battle Monday evening at 7 p.m. in K.C.

Thanks to two loyal readers for suggesting this news story.

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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."