Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Jeremy Pliva Earns Recognition For Artwork

Thursday, February 8, 2018

NEWS ROUND-UP: Jeremy Pliva Earns Recognition For Artwork

Here are some of the latest headlines from our area:

DHS' Jeremy Pliva Gets Honorable Mention In Statewide Art Contest: Even with more than 3,700 entries and only about 30 percent being awarded recognition, DHS senior Jeremy Pliva recently received honorable mention in the statewide Scholastic Art Contest for his sculpture of a buck. Pliva will be honored at a ceremony in Omaha on Feb. 24. His artwork will be on display in Omaha until April. We say great woodworking and painting done by this Dorchester senior.

DHS Freshman Scores 14 In First Varsity Start: The Friend Sentinel has a story in this week's paper that Dorchester girls basketball freshman Alli Novak got her first varsity start and scored 14 points for DHS last week in the Lady Longhorns' loss to Nebraska Lutheran. The Dorchester girls, who beat Hampton 56-39 earlier this week, are 9-12 on the season. They will finish the regular season with a home game against McCool Junction, tomorrow, Feb. 9. Friday night is also parents’ night. For the DHS girls, subdistrict play begins Monday, Feb. 12, at the D2-2 tournament at Malcolm and DHS will take on 10-8 Mead at 7:45 p.m. The Dorchester boys will wrap up regular season play on Feb. 16 at Exeter-Milligan.

Storm Spotter Training Will Be March 12: This is an early notice that Jefferson, Saline and Gage County emergency management along with the Omaha National Weather Service will once again be sponsoring a storm spotter training class. Storm spotter training will be March 12, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the Homestead National Monument, Education Center (west site), 8523 West State Highway 4, Beatrice. Storm Spotter training is for the public who wants to learn what to look for, as well as the serious storm chaser. It is recommended that you attend a session every two years to keep up on any changes. For more information, e-mail John McKee at em@jeffconebraska.us.

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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."