Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUNDUP: DHS Grad Dan Stehlik Plays Key Role At NU's Tech College

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

NEWS ROUNDUP: DHS Grad Dan Stehlik Plays Key Role At NU's Tech College

DHS Grad Dan Stehlik Has Key Role at Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture: Dorchester native and DHS graduate Dan Stehlik is playing a key role in enhancing the technical, hands-on skills of Nebraska's young people. According to a report in The Fence Post, an ag news publication, Stehlik is now in his third year at the University of Nebraska's Curtis campus, where technical agricultural skills are taught. At Curtis, Stehlik is a senior agricultural mechanics instructor, which includes welding, electricity, irrigation technology, farm machinery maintenance and small engines courses. Prior to his time in Curtis, he taught agricultural education for 19 years in Kansas high schools. Stehlik was featured prominently in the story for his leading role in facilitating the expansion of the college's welding program in 2016, leading to an upgrade in equipment, facilities and the overall program. Great to see Longhorn alumni doing great things to improve the Good Life.

Nice Acreage On 40 Acres South Of Dorchester Still For Sale: A nice farmstead is still for sale at 1057 County Road 1300, which is south and west of town. According to the listing, this secluded farmstead featuring countless trees and wandering creek. There are "plenty of outbuildings for anyone's imagination. There is approximately 40 +/- acres total with over 11 acres of farm ground for personal use, income or the farmer in you. It features "a charming home with over 1200 sq. feet. Some wood flooring is beaming through." The seller is leaving their cell-phone range extender. "The covered deck is fabulous for sitting and enjoying the evenings or having morning breakfasts." Listing price is $294,000. See the listing by clicking here.

Deshler Provides Model For Six-Man Football Success: The Lincoln Journal Star this week featured a story on Deshler's six-man football program, which is 6-1 on the season and ranked No. 5 in the state. This is Year 4 for the Deshler football program playing in six-man, and the Dragons appear to be getting the hang of it, the Journal Star reports. "In its first two seasons after dropping from eight-man, Deshler went 2-6 and 1-7 with young teams. A year ago, the Dragons were 5-3, and with seven players with starting experience back from that squad, they’ve taken it to another level." Deshler's head coach said switching to six-man "was a learning process for all of us." This season, Deshler's QB has thrown for 1,447 yards and 30 touchdowns while scoring six on the ground himself. Sounds like exciting football -- and it looks like Deshler is a program Dorchester coaches and players should aim to imitate. The article also points out that "this is the last season the Nebraska Six-Man Coaches Association will be overseeing six-man football in the state. It will move under the umbrella of the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) in 2018," when Dorchester restarts its own team on Nerud Field.

1 comment:

AnonymousOctober 17, 2017 at 10:49 PM
the acreage is 40 acres, not 11!
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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."