Dorchester Times: Dorchester's Citizen Of The Year: Peg Bergmeyer

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Dorchester's Citizen Of The Year: Peg Bergmeyer

The Dorchester Times is proud to name Peg Bergmeyer as its "Dorchester Citizen of 2017."

Peg is receiving this honor based largely on her volunteer efforts with the Dorchester Community Foundation, as well as her solo efforts to improve her community.

Our decision was made this past autumn, when Peg was seen working hard in hot temperatures to groom Dorchester's main street median.

In decades gone by, main street's flowers and trees were tended to by a cadre of green thumbs, typically retirees who formed groups such as Dorchester's "Green Thumbs."

Nowadays, Bergmeyer and a handful of others -- such as Carol Olsen -- are seen working on the medians, which are a unique and highly visible feature of our community. (For example, in 2016 we reported that  Julie Holly, owner of The Well in Dorchester, reported that her out-of-town customers who attend The Well's yoga classes commented on the beauty of our main street and the flowering trees on Dorchester's median.)

Peg has been a key leader for the Dorchester Community Foundation, which is currently working to raise funds for Dorchester forthcoming water park or splash pad. Whenever Dorchester area residents or alumni received fundraising requests and updates from the Foundation, Peg's name is prominently mentioned.

Established over a decade ago, the Dorchester Community Foundation Fund is guided by one central mission: To raise funds for worthy projects that will enhance Dorchester and our quality of life. Contributions to the Foundation are deductible for income and estate tax purposes.

Peg and the other members of the Foundation have been instrumental in various projects and activities. These include the city park's new playground equipment and shelter; annual scholarships; the Charlie Havlat Memorial; the village welcome signs; the new cemetery directory; and the annual steak and chicken feeds.

Our previous Citizen of the Year winners include Penny Keller, Carol Olson, Dale Hayek, and Bill Velder.

Honorable mentions submitted to the Times (Dorchester.Times@gmail.com) over the years include (in no particular order): Amanda Cerny, Tom Cerny, Larry Kaspar, Lyle Weber, Greg Tyser, Todd Axline, all members of the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Dept. and Rescue, Jason and Kathy Duhrkop, Mike Pracheil, Tim Vejraska, Ben Haufle, Brent Zoubek, Kyleigh Jo Lewis, Phil Weber, Steve Ottmann, Scott Pohl, Eric Stehlik, Joyce Karl, Adam Briggs, Rob "Bert" Parks, John Bruha, Mark Bors, Tom Cerny, Amanda Cerny, Julie and Joe Holly of "The Well", LJ Barley, Bob and Marva Kasl, Dan Nerud, Mike Nohavec, Ryan Voelker.

Congratulations to Peg Bergmeyer, our Times' Citizen of 2017!

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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."