Dorchester Times: Adolph Kohout Passes At 84; Services Tuesday

Friday, April 22, 2016

Adolph Kohout Passes At 84; Services Tuesday

Adolph Joseph Kohout Jr., 84, of Dorchester passed away April 21, 2016. He was born June 18, 1931 in Monroe Precinct, Saline County, Dorchester, NE. Adolph attended Country Schools, District #94 and then #55. In 1945 he helped his dad farming.

He was a member of ZCBJ – WFLA Number 389 Saline Center and received his 75 year membership pin in 2013. At a young age, Adolph was interested in playing the accordion, maybe because his father played as well. He did get one and learned to play, Adolph was still playing but just at home for the family and other gatherings.

Adolph and Doris Hronik were married November 21, 1950 at Grace United Methodist Church in Crete and lived on the same farm where he was born. They had two children, Marilyn and Marvin. During winter months he worked away from home at Crete Mills, Alpo, Petersen Manufacturing, Biba Construction, REA near Geneva, Yankee Hill Brick Company and Wanek’s Furniture. One year Adolph and John Korinek went to put up Christmas lights in Council Bluffs for C.P. Ames Construction.

Adolph continued farming and raising cattle and pigs even after moving into Dorchester in 1977. He would go out every day until 2003 when he rented the land out and gave up his livestock. Even in his 80s, he was still going out to help at harvest time to move machinery from one place to the next.

He is preceded in death by his parents, sisters and brothers-in-law, Adeline (Lambert) Karpisek, Erma (Elmer) Burda and John Pavlish. Survivors include his loving wife of 65 years, Doris of Dorchester; daughter, Marilyn (Owen) Jensen of Mead; son, Marvin (Lorraine) Kohout of Dorchester; grandchildren, Renee (Luis) Jaime, Shaun Jensen, Jeremy (Lindsay) Kohout, Patrick Kohout; great grandchildren, Emalyn, Belanie & Mallory Jaime, Conner, Jonny & Gracie Kohout; sister, Mary Ann Pavlish of Wilber.

Funeral Services will be 10:30 AM on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at Kuncl Funeral Home in Crete with Rev. Roger Wolfe officiating. Visitation will be on Monday from 5-8 PM with family greeting friends 6-8 PM at the funeral home. Interment will be in Wilber Czech Cemetery. Memorials care of the family for future designation. Condolences may be left online at kunclfh.com.

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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."