Dorchester Times: Eyesore On 9th & Jefferson Sold To Local Investors

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Eyesore On 9th & Jefferson Sold To Local Investors

Courtesy Photo

This blog has made no secret about our staff's opinions regarding vacant and abandoned houses.

While there are about two dozen truly neglected properties in Dorchester -- all of which are in need of immediate repair or removal -- perhaps no site has commanded more community attention that the long-abandoned home at the intersection of Jefferson and 9th streets. This is due primarily to the house's proximity from Dorchester Public School on a well-traveled street.

Earlier this year, we reported that this home at 813 Jefferson posed a real threat to human health due to its condition and the critters that currently call it home. (We also made this property the butt of our April Fools joke.)

Recently, an e-mail sent to the Times reported that the property had been sold to investors who are considering their options to build new family housing. According to the e-mail, "this only happened because the investors" -- a Dorchester family -- "had the initiative" to approach the property owner.

At this point, those are all the details we have. But we thought the development was worth reporting considering the property's history. (According to sources, the village government tried to demolish the structure a few years ago, but a judge intervened saying that "improvements were being made." Now, years later, the house's chimney has collapsed and the roof is caving in.)

There is no one-size-fits-all answer for communities looking to reinvent themselves. Dorchester residents and those with deep Dorchester ties know what is best for the community. It's good to see fellow residents step up to the plate and make change happen instead of waiting for government or others to solve the problem.

If this development is true, and the home has indeed been sold to investors in our community who plan to redevelop this property, this action could likely be a catalyst, causing other negligent property owners to finally sell their properties that are prime for redevelopment.

3 comments:

AnonymousSeptember 4, 2017 at 9:58 AM
Looks like it took the birds to rid the block of the cats.
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AnonymousSeptember 4, 2017 at 11:36 AM
As a lifelong resident of Dorchester I would like to suggest that the blog post pictures of the abandoned and neglected homes in town. Maybe posting pictures would prompt the owners to sell the properties. Just a thought...
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AnonymousSeptember 4, 2017 at 11:42 AM
LOOOOOOOVE TO HEAR THIS NEWS. IN WITH THE NEW >>> OUT WITH THE CRAP
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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."