Dorchester Times: Sources: City Slickers Renovation To Be Completed By Dec. 1

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Sources: City Slickers Renovation To Be Completed By Dec. 1

The Dorchester Times has learned that City Slickers -- Dorchester's one and only bar and grill at the present time -- will soon complete its interior construction project. The completion of this project will allow for more seating, while offering patrons a bigger and better kitchen.

The renovation project has been in the works for the past year and a half. According to sources, the remodeling at City Slickers could be finished by Dec. 1.

The owners of this famous eating establishment plan to host a "grand re-opening" party next month, we are told.

Last year, this blog reported that City Slickers and its owner had a strong interest in establishing a new Dorchester bowling alley. However, we are told that project is on hold for the time being, due to the large expense and unforeseen costs connected to the kitchen and dining area renovation project.

Dorchester area residents are strongly encouraged to patronize and financially support City Slickers, according to town leaders.

Some residents have suggested that the village board or community foundation do more to work with City Slickers to help encourage the development of a bowling alley in the two buildings north of the bar and grill (one of those buildings is badly blighted and vacant residential space). We are told that encouragement has not gotten any traction.

There is strong demand for a social and entertainment venue in Dorchester and surrounding area. Friend and Crete both lost their bowling facilities in recent years. Milford has no such facility, either. As a result, those who want to bowl on league teams must join a long waiting list before they can bowl in nearby towns like Wilber or Seward.

City Slickers Bar and Grill is owned by Jason and Kathy Duhrkop, who purchased the establishment in 2013 from Rob Parks, who had owned Joe's Place since 2009.

The modern history of the current space occupied by Joe's Place/City Slickers dates all the way back to 1952, when local legend Joe Ladman bought the building and started Joe's Place, which operated until 2004 when Ladman's son-in-law, Dewayne Schmale, sold the bar to Verna Lewis. For a short time, the bar was known as the Blue Moose, until it changed hands again in 2007, under Sheryl Olson, and was known as the West Side Saloon until 2009, when it again became Joe's Place.

City Slickers owners say "their goal is for customers to come in hungry and leave satisfied." The Duhrkops want the establishment to remain a staple in the community for many years to come.

Community members say they enjoy the food and environment of City Slickers -- and we agree

3 comments:

AnonymousNovember 15, 2015 at 12:34 AM
Great bar, great food, great owners! Can't wait to see the new addition.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousNovember 15, 2015 at 10:11 PM
I agree. Great owners, dorchester needs this important part of main street to be successful. If you don't support this, what will you support? Go City Slickers, and maybe start a memorbillia area of old Joes Place artifacts
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousNovember 27, 2015 at 8:05 PM
No one has worked for days act this place since the fire and Rob and Sherri still own the building for another year atleast
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."