Dorchester Times: 2016 Dorchester Resolution: Sustain, Grow Our Town

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

2016 Dorchester Resolution: Sustain, Grow Our Town

2016 means it's time for new resolutions.

For Dorchester, one of our community's new year resolutions is to grow our population. We will do this by working to bring back more of our Dorchester alumni, while stressing the importance of keeping our young people.

We will also send the message to employees at the Dorchester Public Schools, the Farmers Cooperative and other Dorchester employers that they are wanted -- in fact, needed -- here.

Why this resolution? It's pretty simple.

1.) No one cares about Dorchester as much as those who've grown up here or are working here. While it's important to be accepting of all people who want to reside in our community, our priority should be those who care about our town most.

2.) Dorchester has experienced a drop in population. At last count, Dorchester has 586 residents. This is the first time since the 1980s Dorchester has dropped below 600. (We do realize some residents aren't necessarily legally present in the U.S. and did not complete Census forms.) While we can all think of ways to improve town, we need more bodies here to have skin in the game. We need leadership, resources, and people who care. A first step is to address the handful of abandoned homes that are adding to all of our property tax burdens by being run down and unoccupied; these homes need to be sold, renovated and filled or a stiff "abandonment tax" should be levied by the town board -- which needs to step up its game.

3.) Dorchester's school is currently spending around $17,000 per student a year for K-12 education. That's nearly a quarter of a million dollars -- $221,000 -- per student over his/her primary school years. Why would we make that investment only to tell a Dorchester child to move away and never come back? Parents, community leaders and school employees -- let's work with Dorchester's young people to help them shape the town of their future and tell them we want them to make Dorchester their home. This is vital to our future. (Dorchester administrators and school board members, please make sure this happens.)

We've said it before: In a crazy, nutty world today, Dorchester has a lot going for it; and it has potential to become even better. A new K-12 school. A clean, peaceful and safe community. A new water tower and sewer system. The lowest school tax levy in the county. Affordable cost of living. One of the largest agri-businesses (Farmers Cooperative) in the state. A 10-minute drive from employers in Crete and Seward. And just 30 minutes to Lincoln thanks to being next to two highways and minutes from I-80.

Why wouldn't we take advantage of our situation by making Dorchester all it can be -- right now?

1 comment:

AnonymousDecember 8, 2015 at 5:10 PM
Many people won't like what I'm about to type, but to all you whiners, bitchers, complainers ... you're the answer. Small towns are great because we are all responsible for our own quality of life. You gotta be part of the answer, if you're not, you're part of the problem. So form a plan, get together with neighbors and friends and do something to improve your lot. (Yeah, you big city folks could learn a lesson and do the same. We've become a nation of professional critics and complainers, and it's getting us nowhere fast.)
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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."