Dorchester Times: BREAKING: Dorchester Receives $132,000 Grant For New Ambulance

Monday, June 5, 2017

BREAKING: Dorchester Receives $132,000 Grant For New Ambulance

Here is big news for the community of Dorchester and area residents who depend on the village's first responders.

This morning, it was announced that four southeast Nebraska communities will be awarded USDA Rural Development funds totaling $1,650,500.

Among the recipients is the Village of Dorchester.

According to information obtained by the Times, Dorchester's village government will receive $132,000 from USDA, leveraged with $100,000 from the village, to purchase a new 2017 ambulance.

The upgraded ambulance will provide a significant boost to the rescue team's capabilities, according to insiders.

Developing...

2 comments:

Village DwellerJune 5, 2017 at 4:05 PM
For those interested, here is the USDA news release announcing grant:

USDA Rural Development Awards $1.65 Million in Southeast Nebraska

LINCOLN, NEB., June 5, 2017-Four awardees of USDA Rural Development funds totaling $1,650,500 have been announced:

• Village of Hubbell received $388,400 from USDA leveraged with other funding of $157,600 to construct a new well, install water meters and replace two blocks of main and the aged water main. The $105,000 loan is for 40 years at 2 percent rate of interest; the remaining funds are a grant.

• Johnson County Rural Water District #1 was awarded $1,123,000 from USDA to replace water mains, install new lines, repaint the standpipe and to replace a well pump. The loan is for 40 years at 3.375 percent rate of interest.

• Village of Dorchester received $132,000 from USDA leveraged with $100,000 from the village to purchase a new 2017 ambulance.

• Pennsylvania Colony Historical Society of Nebraska was awarded $2,000 leveraged with $3,784 from the Historical Society to connect the house on the site to the Richardson Rural Water District for potable water. Additionally the Historical Society received $5,100 from USDA leveraged with $9,550 from the Historical Society to renovate the original barn on the Pennsylvania Colony Historical Society of Nebraska site in Dawson, Nebraska.

The Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program provides funding in eligible rural areas for community service facilities such as fire and rescue buildings, streets, utilities, clinics and nursing homes. Visit: https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/community-facilities-direct-loan-grant-program/ne. The Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grant Program provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal, and storm water drainage to households and businesses in eligible rural areas. Visit: https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/water-waste-disposal-loan-grant-program/ne.

For more information contact Janice Stopak, 402-437-5743 or janice.stopak@ne.usda.gov or Luann Brown, 402-437-5571 or luann.brown@ne.usda.gov.

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AnonymousJune 5, 2017 at 10:16 PM
Does this mean that the city of dorchester has to put up 100k, to make this happen?
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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."