Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Another Wicked Winter Storm This Way Comes

Friday, January 19, 2018

NEWS ROUND-UP: Another Wicked Winter Storm This Way Comes

Yet Another Winter Storm Coming Our Way: Another winter storm could bring near-blizzard conditions to parts of Nebraska this weekend, but an early look shows the Dorchester area should avoid the worst of the weather. Eight to 10 inches of snow are expected in parts of northern and central Nebraska beginning Sunday afternoon and into Monday. The National Weather Service is forecasting just 2 to 4 inches snowfall in our area, although some models show the city receiving as much as a foot of snow. Stay tuned to the Times' forecast page for this developing situation.

Crete Man Charged For Stealing $1.1 Million: KWBE Radio is reporting that federal authorities have indicted a Crete man already charged with stealing more than $1.1 million from his former employer in Lincoln. The wire fraud indictment involves Mark Ackerman, who was office manager for Vertical Horizons Contracting Inc. in Lincoln. Federal prosecutors say Ackerman used accounts designated for reimbursement fees to transfer funds to his personal account for items never purchased. It also alleges that he falsely represented legitimate business expenses and made checks payable to himself from company accounts.

Dorchester Groups Get Tourism Promotion Funds: The Wilber newspaper has a story this week that Dorchester-based organizations were on the receiving end of funding from the Saline County Tourism Advisory Committee. More than $18,000 in funds were available for increasing tourism in the county. Grant monies are generated by the lodging tax collected in the county. In the fund for marketing and advertising for 2018 events, the Saline County Historical Society received funding for promotional materials for the Dorchester-based museum and genealogy room, while the Dorchester American Legion received fund for promotion of events, including Buffalo Feed, auction, and dances. The Dorchester Festival Committee received funds for the Fourth of July activities. From the pool of funding for improved facilities, the Dorchester American Legion received dollars for its storage shed repair, while the Saline County Historical Society received money for the museum's sidewalk construction.

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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."