Dorchester Times: News Roundup: Family Missing Dog; Post Office Accolades; Legion Open Sunday

Friday, July 1, 2016

News Roundup: Family Missing Dog; Post Office Accolades; Legion Open Sunday

Here is what is trending in Dorchester:

Our 'Main Street Improvement Award' Goes To Post Office: About a year ago, we wrote, "For those who haven't noticed, Dorchester's Post Office Building looks more attractive than it has in a long time, perhaps since the building was erected in the 1960s. We salute those responsible, including Dorchester's new postmaster. This is a model hometown of pride and for how buildings along main street should be maintained." Well, more improvements have been done recently. That is why the post office is being awarded the Dorchester Times "Main Street Improvement Award" for 2016 -- for the attention and dedication to Dorchester's main street appearance.

American Legion Bar Is Open This Sunday: The Dorchester 4th of July Softball Tournament begins Sunday, July 3. The good news for all the players is that the Dorchester American Legion bar will be open Sunday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. On Independence Day, City Slicker's will be open from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. for drinks and off-sale, but no kitchen. For the Legion BBQ and Legion Auxilary ice cream social, stop by the Legion Hall 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. on July 4. See Dorchester's full July 4 schedule here.

Dorchester Family Is Missing Dog: We recently spotted a sign in town, asking for help to locate a family's missing chihuahua. The female dog is white and four years old, and its name is Chivtia. The dog "comes from a loving family," according to the sign, which was composed by one of the family's children. Call 620-408-4854 if you see Chivtia the missing chihuahua.

10-Year-Old Dorchester Boy Wants Mowing Job: Too many kids don't have any ambition to work nowadays. That's why we were encouraged to see a sign in town posted by a 10-year-old named Dylan. The sign reads: "I will mow your lawn for $10. I will need to use your mower. Call 402-418-1032. I am 10 years old." If you need your lawn mowed, we suggest you give hardworking Dylan a chance.

2 comments:

AnonymousJuly 2, 2016 at 9:24 AM
I believe I seen that dog running down the county road around 1300 and F two days ago then heading west through a corn field. Haven't seen it since.
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AnonymousJuly 4, 2016 at 12:45 PM
The dog has been found and returned to the family.
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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."