Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUNDUP: Fast Home Sale Demonstrates Need For Newer Housing

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

NEWS ROUNDUP: Fast Home Sale Demonstrates Need For Newer Housing

Good Housing Sells Fast In Dorchester: More proof of that came this week. As we reported Tuesday, a nice home located just a half-block west of the school, went up for sale. On Wednesday night, the home's current owner, Stephanni Olson-Renn, reported that less than 24 hours later, the house was sold. A similar situation occurred last summer when a newer home went up for sale in south Dorchester. "Looks like Dorchester is in serious need of housing," Renn said. "If you build it they will come!"

DHS Students Win BBB Video Contest: Congrats are in order to four Longhorn students for taking first place -- and a $500 award -- in the Better Business Bureau's video contest for the Lincoln Metro and Greater Nebraska area. As we reported earlier this year, the DHS sports marketing class submitted its commercial for the contest. The commercial created by the Dorchester students is entitled: “Finding Trust: The Lonely Sow.” It features a pig -- specifically a sow -- in search of a “hot date.” She turns to online dating. To win, their commercial needed online views. The class’ goal was 1,500 views. At last check, the commercial had compiled over 1,700 views. The competition was aimed at giving students the chance to express their creativity while learning the values of BBB: being trustworthy, ethical, reliable and objective.

DHS Boys Conclude Basketball Season: The Dorchester boys basketball team wrapped up a tough season on Monday night, falling in subdistrict play. The young DHS squad lost to Lewiston by a count of 59-41. Scorers for the Longhorns were Havlat 8, Cervantes 2, Nelson 22, Hoffman 9.

For Better Or Worse, More Wind Farms Coming To Saline County: Saline County is the focus of two more wind farm projects by Aksamit Resource Management. According to the Friend newspaper, the company is working on two wind farm projects in western Saline County: Milligan 1 and Milligan 3. The story notes that Milligan 3 will have 37 turbines with, each tower standing roughly 260 feet tall to the hub with blades 180 feet long. According to ARM’s website, the project is expected to be done near the end of this year. The larger project, Milligan 1, is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, and will have 87 turbines over 30,000 acres. Each tower will be 384 feet tall with 207 foot blades. "According to county assessor Brandi Kelly, the turbines will not affect property values," but there is local speculation that the development could devastate the property values of homes in that area. While some call this economic development, critics note that solar energy is becoming much more attractive, is more reliable, and cause less visual and noise polution than wind farms. Moreover, critics have noted that if subsidies for wind go dry, the county or landowners could be left with the deconstruction costs since the developers would almost certainly be bankrupt by that time.

Another Saline County Bridge Closing: The Friend newspaper reports that the bridge on County Road S between Highway 15 and County Road 1200 will be vacated. County commissioners voted 4-1 to close the bridge earlier this month. The bridge over Spring Creek, located about three miles northeast of Western, washed out in the May 7, 2015, storm.

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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."