Dorchester Times: Separating The In's From The Out's

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Separating The In's From The Out's

Every community in America needs them:

Leaders.

Movers and shakers.

People who make things happen.

And every community has those on the other end of the spectrum: the naysayers; sticks-in-the-mud; those would would rather complain than work to better their own corner of the world.

With this in mind, we share with our readers an article published in the North Platte Telegraph a decade ago. Written by former Telegraph reporter Mary Ann Koch, the piece concludes that residents in any community belong to one of two groups -- the "Ins" and the "Outs."

Read this short piece and let's all ask ourselves: To which group do I belong?

Separating the In's from the Out's

There is an easy way to tell the “In's” from the “Out's” in a community -- any community.

The In's are the people who spend long, hard hours working for community improvement. The Out's are the people who spend their time and energy being critical.

The In's invest hours in meetings, organizing programs and weighing alternatives. They are usually generous in their opinions of others, knowing that anything to be done must be done with the help of others. The Out's invest in gossip, repeating rumors without regard for truth, and spreading resentment and frustration.

The In's see a need in the community and try to do something constructive to meet that need. The Out's complain about everything the community lacks and find fault with everyone who tries to do anything about it.

The In's get their names in the news because they are news makers. The Out's don’t get involved.

The In's look for the best in people and believe that people do the very best they can in a given situation. The Out's are sure that everyone in the public eye is crooked and has a selfish motive for everything.

The In's believe a person who has accumulated material wealth has worked hard and deserves that wealth. The Out's believe a wealthy person got that way in some dishonest manner or simply inherited it all.

The In's are doers. The Out's are talkers.

The In's are positive. The Out's are negative.

Which one are you? When it comes to Dorchester and its future, are you in?

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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."