Dorchester Times: Working With Students Is Best Plan For Rejuvenating Dorchester

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Working With Students Is Best Plan For Rejuvenating Dorchester

We've heard it for years, for decades. Dorchester has lost too many businesses, too many

young people.

Of course, Dorchester isn't the only community in Nebraska experiencing so-called "out-migration" and the loss of businesses over the decades. An overwhelming majority of Nebraska's 570 communities have experienced the same thing to a lesser or greater degree, depending on their location.

Fortunately, the situation for many communities has begun to turn around. And it's happening because leaders and educators in Nebraska's rural communities are focusing on the next generation.

According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Extension, research shows that if by age 10 or 11 a child has had a positive experience in his/her community, that child is more likely to stay or return to his/her hometown. This is further proof why young people -- not just high schoolers and middle schoolers, but also grade schoolers -- must be encouraged to be a part of community's affairs and future planning.

It's time to get serious; it's time to think outside the box.

We're not sure how many Dorchester teachers or school officials read this blog. But for those who do, we'd like to point out the success experienced in Ord, Neb. and Valley County.

About 10 years ago, when Ord started recognizing lasting effects of population loss from the 1990s, leaders got together and agreed that one of the best ways to revitalize the county would be to connect students to the local business community early on. With a focus on entrepreneurship and a commitment to its youth, one of the most successful ways Valley County illustrates this economic revival is through the annual Entrepreneurship Investigation (ESI) Camp. With curriculum developed by UNL and Nebraska 4-H, ESI Camp hosts 20-25 students from Valley County and surrounding communities.

Don't think it can work? Valley County was the only rural Nebraska county that had experienced growth in the 25 and under population, according to the 2010 census.

An entrepreneurship camp for grade schoolers. What a great idea -- and one way Dorchester could rejuvenate its own business district. After all, kids come up with some of the most creative ideas. Their optimism and energy run circles around most adults over 30.

Watch how Valley County has rallied to engage its students by clicking here.

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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."