Dorchester Times: Will DHS Football Return? Oct. 9 DPS Board Meeting Should Tell

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Will DHS Football Return? Oct. 9 DPS Board Meeting Should Tell

When it comes to the possible return of high school football to Dorchester on Friday nights, it appears a decision will likely be made Monday, Oct. 9, at the Dorchester Public School board meeting.

The board meeting will begin at 8 p.m. at the school.

As we reported last month, Dorchester leaders are seriously exploring bringing back six-man football to Dorchester High School in time for the 2018 football season.

A meeting of DPS parents was held in late September to discuss the options and requirements to go forward with the plan.

An online survey of Times readers, conducted in late September, showed nearly three-quarters of readers said they do want DHS football to return. That is up from 68% in 2014. (Some readers who opposed cited Dorchester's unwillingness to merge with Friend High School several years ago.)

Dorchester has been without a football team of its own since 2013, as fewer enrolled boys in grades 9-12 and decreased participation rates raised questions whether a viable 8-man team could be fielded. However, it seems six-man football is gaining popular support and more teams in our corner of the state, and the revival of Longhorn football is a real possibility next season.

To see reader comments on this topic, click here.

5 comments:

AnonymousSeptember 27, 2017 at 6:08 PM
maybe the 'times' could post a copy of the Nebraska 6 man football rules? From doing a little research, it looks like the rules can vary from state to state.
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AnonymousSeptember 29, 2017 at 9:13 PM
What were the results of the meeting? Any word?
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AnonymousSeptember 30, 2017 at 8:44 AM
Went to meeting Sept. 26th, very disappointing turn out of parents!!! Sorry folks anyone who went understands it takes more than students to make a football team. Please come out and support your school , with out you it means nothing. If you want football back in Dorchester the parents is where it starts, not the students. The kids that want to play football are, sorry if anyone who says they want football back here has attended a football game this year they might have an answer. But considering you wont drive 11 miles to see a Milford/ Dorchester home game I doubt if you will be diving any where to see 6 man game which most are going to be a little further away than that. I would like to hear the response of the people the people that have actually went to a game and SUPPORTED are School and STUDENTS ,,, It starts with You not the school. Sorry but we have a good thing going,
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AnonymousOctober 4, 2017 at 1:24 PM
Funny how some people who should have no stakes in DHS football (those without kids, kids who've long graduated, don't live in the district, etc) will adamantly oppose the discussing the return of football to Dorchester. Something must be eating at them!
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AnonymousOctober 4, 2017 at 3:59 PM
For gosh sakes bring back football and give young kids something to do and dream about.

This isnt about adults or even the current high schoolers, its about the kids in elementary and junior high and giving them orange and black school pride again on friday nights!!!!!!!!!!!
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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."