Dorchester Times: SPORTS BRIEFS: All Three Dorchester Baseball Teams Back In Action; Wrestling Returns To DHS

Monday, May 9, 2016

SPORTS BRIEFS: All Three Dorchester Baseball Teams Back In Action; Wrestling Returns To DHS

Dorchester Baseball Season Begins: Play ball! Dorchester's baseball season begins this week, with opening day set for Tuesday. It appears that Dorchester's baseball program will have all three age divisions represented on the diamond this year. Dorchester has been without an older boys' team (15 and under), according to our records, since 2010, when Dorchester's National League team won the SFS League championship. It's understandable if the rest of the league is a bit nervous. After all, Dorchester was a dominant force in the SFS League's National League in the 1990s, '80s, '70s, '60s, and '50s -- the decade the league began. Weather permitting, Tuesday will see the Dorchester Pee Wee team travel to Exeter-Milligan (south), a bye for the American League team, and the National League team at DeWitt/Plymouth. All three Dorchester teams will take on Wilber (white) in Wilber on Thursday. And the home opener for all three Dorchester teams will be Tuesday, May 17. Game times are 5:50 p.m. for Pee Wees; 7:00 p.m. for American; and 8:30 p.m. for National.

Dorchester Softball Opens May 16: Next week, on May 16, Dorchester's softball program will begin what many are saying will be a special season for all three teams. The 8-and-under and the 10-and-under squads will host next-door Friend for both team's first game of the year. The 14-and-under team will host Meridian. On Wednesday, May 18, all three Dorchester teams will be in Wilber. Game times vary based on the number of games at a particular location.

Wresting Returns To DHS In 2016-2017 School Year: After a three year hiatus, Dorchester High School will once again have its own wrestling team. The Orange and Black Attack has been consolidating with Milford for the past three seasons. But next school year -- the 2016-17 season -- Dorchester will field both junior high and high school wrestling squads. Ricky Lewis has been named as the new wrestling coach for both the junior high and high school levels. That leaves football as the only major sport currently not represented at DHS.

Elementary Field Day Is May 16: Next Monday, May 16, is the annual Elementary Field Day. Events begin at 9 a.m., weather permitting. In case of inclement weather, the event will be moved to Tuesday, May 17.

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 9, 2016 at 8:49 PM
Great news for Longhorn sports!
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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."