Dorchester Times: Dorchester Library In Danger Of Closing Without Volunteers

Monday, May 15, 2017

Dorchester Library In Danger Of Closing Without Volunteers

Will you help save the Dorchester Public Library on our main street?

The Times has learned that the library is struggling to stay open due to lack of volunteers and lack of patrons.

A sign on the library's front door reads that without volunteers for Saturdays, the library is currently open on Wednesdays only (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.).

The sign also states that "there doesn't appear to be much interest in keeping the library open at all."

Could this be the start of a plan to close the library, which as been in operation more than 100 years?

If you would like to help keep the library open and can volunteer for a couple hours on Saturday mornings (9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.), contact City Hall (402-946-3201 or dorchester@diodecom.net).

Dorchester needs to use its library more -- and Dorchester parents need to encourage and challenge their children to read more often. (At least reading more than whatever is on the screen of their smart phone.)

Despite Nebraska taxpayers spending more than $3 billion on K-12 education in 2016, nearly 30% of all Nebraska 11th graders failed to read at levels on statewide standardized tests. Those who came from English-as-a-second language home performed even worse. (No wonder so many Asian countries outperform the United States in producing doctors, engineers and scientists. Many of our kids can't even read at appropriate grade levels.)

Perhaps some new volunteers can think of ways to attract more visitors to the library and encourage more reading. For example, in Oxford, Neb., the town library has become a social hub for the kids. The AP reports, "The kids come in their PJ's. They curl up with stuffed toys and munch on popcorn. And, while their parents are watching a grown-ups' movie at the Granada Theater next door, youngsters at the Oxford Public Library are enjoying a G-rated, kid-friendly movie on their own big screen, helping the library fulfill its mission to be a vital, vibrant educational, entertainment and social hub of the community." The community's Oxford Foundation provided funds for an XBox game system and television. The library also has a variety of DVDs available for check-out.

Are you willing to help the town and its library?

6 comments:

cynical richardMay 15, 2017 at 7:22 PM
.....i's dont have no time to reed books ............................. I's spending too much time getting dumber by reeding face book posts ........................................ watchin reality tv ..................................... downloading crap from netflix ............................ i's too smart to reed books .............................
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AnonymousMay 15, 2017 at 8:57 PM
Ha! Sarcastic as well as cynical.
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UnknownMay 16, 2017 at 9:15 AM
When the new school was built the library has it's own exterior doors,as well as it's own bathrooms so that it could serve as public library for the community as well as the students of the school, maybe we could put that into effect, and have 1 big library instead of 2 library's, in a village of less than 600, (as a child I used the public library often, it is a great place, and a huge thank you to all who volunteered there time) but I think a merge would be the best path to success for the community Dorchester
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AnonymousMay 16, 2017 at 9:38 AM
What about the summer months and weekends when no one is at the school? We need a library. I'm 16 otherwise I would volunteer.
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AnonymousMay 18, 2017 at 9:45 AM
Make better use of the library and the adjoining community building and it will be a YUUUUGE benefit for the town kids.
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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."