Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUNDUP: Big Weekend In The Village

Friday, March 18, 2016

NEWS ROUNDUP: Big Weekend In The Village

This is one of Dorchester's biggest weekends of the year. The village will be busting with activity. Here's a look at some of this weekend's events:

Alumni Basketball Tourney: The annual three-day DHS Alumni Basketball Tournament is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. A tradition that started in March 1995 under then coach Mark Wragge and then Scott Pohl, the tournament is still going strong. We've heard that at least eight or nine teams will be competing on the hardwood this year -- enough to ensure some fierce competition and friendly rivalries. Games start tonight (Friday) at 6 p.m. at the DHS gym and will run until the championship at mid-afternoon on Sunday.

Community Foundation Dinner On Saturday Night: The annual Dorchester Community Foundation's Spring Steak and Hamburger Feed will be held at the Dorchester Community Hall and Legion Hall Saturday night from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. Diners can choose a 12 oz. rib eye, along with salad, potato or chips, bread, drink and dessert. Or choose the hamburger meal, which includes all the aforementioned side dishes. This event has been one of the most popular in Dorchester for the past seven years. Proceeds from the feed will go to help pay for Foundation projects. (By the way, the Foundation is currently raising funds to erect a much needed cemetery directory for the Village of Dorchester’s cemetery. If you would like to purchase an engraved brick to have placed on the Directory on behalf of your family or loved one, please complete the brick sponsorship form no later than June 15, 2016. The form can be found on the Foundation's Facebook page or by clicking here.)

City Slickers All Weekend Long: We've heard that City Slickers will be running food and drink specials all weekend long, just as Joe's Place and Ben's Iron Grill did in previous years. The weekend will be a perfect opportunity for alumni and their friends and family to see all the recent renovations made inside and outside their favorite pub.

Soup And Sandwiches At UMC: On Sunday, March 20, at the Dorchester Methodist Church, the UMC ladies will host their annual soup and sandwich luncheon. This gathering always draws quite a crowd, so get there plenty early. Doors will open at 11 a.m. and food will be served up until 1 p.m. Whether you fancy chili, clam chowder, chicken noodle or liver dumpling soup, you'll be sure to find it. Also served will be sandwiches, relishes and some of Nebraska's very best deserts. There is no charge for the event -- just a free-will offering.

Saline Center Consignment Sale: The huge Saline Center Consignment Sale is also this Sunday, March 20, near Dorchester on Highway 15. It starts at 9:30 a.m.

4 comments:

AnonymousMarch 18, 2016 at 9:33 PM
There is no place to eat or drink on sunday after the game to bad someone wouldn't buy bens bar and run it right. I know a lot of people that would support it.
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AnonymousMarch 19, 2016 at 8:31 PM
Brent Zoubek is doing a nice job running the tourney.
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AnonymousMarch 19, 2016 at 9:22 PM
1 bar is may be good if it was open everyday.
ReplyDelete
Replies

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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."