Dorchester Times: Three Vacant Dorchester Homes We Hope To See Filled By Mid-Year

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Three Vacant Dorchester Homes We Hope To See Filled By Mid-Year

As the Times has reported previously, about 10% to 15% of houses in Dorchester are currently unoccupied.

Nothing is harder on a small community than vacant homes -- whether they are deteriorating vacant homes or desirable houses than haven't been listed for sale, for whatever reason.

In the past, this blog has conducted an online poll in which nearly two-thirds of Times readers said they want the Dorchester Village Board to consider imposing a fee on neglected or vacant properties in town. Such an option is now possible thanks to new state law.

But it would be more appropriate if property owners simply took the initiative to place a "for sale" or "for rent" sign in the front yards of their empty Dorchester homes.

With that in mind, here are three of the more desirable vacant Dorchester homes in town -- as selected by our staff -- that we hope are on the market by June of this year. With Dorchester's school superintendent leading the charge to get more families to Dorchester (to make better use of the taxpayers' money), let's get these houses filled.

This vacant home at the corner of 9th and Colfax Ave. has been empty for several years, but has also been partially renovated and is well kept. Adjacent to a paved street and catty-corner from the Dorchester School, this would make excellent family housing.

This home at the corner of 9th and Franklin is a true gem. It's adjacent to the paved school street and about 90 steps away from the Dorchester City Park, which will soon be home to its own water park.

Auctioned last fall, this home at 8th and Fulton Ave. is a perfect example of the quality family housing that is in high demand right now. With a large, well-groomed yard and a farm field for a backyard neighbor, this home deserves to be lived in and enjoyed.

14 comments:

AnonymousApril 11, 2018 at 7:07 PM
Just maybe you should personally contact the owners of each individual home on your list and hear the story of each house. In some cases it is illegal to sell the home because of the owner being in the nursing home with control of the house.
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AnonymousApril 12, 2018 at 9:53 AM
Maybe the superintendent should buy one and move to dorchester. Bet this one won't get printed
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AnonymousApril 14, 2018 at 6:49 PM
The house on 8th and Fulton somebody lives in it so you really should look into your information before you put it out there on the internet huh
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BENApril 16, 2018 at 9:34 PM
"Vacant and abandoned properties have negative spillover effects that impact neighboring properties and, when concentrated, entire communities. Research has linked vacant and abandoned properties with reduced property values, increased crime, increased risk to public health and welfare, and increased costs for municipal governments."

- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Ben Carson

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/winter14/highlight1.html
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ConfuciusApril 30, 2018 at 2:16 PM
Confucius say: Be smart. Do whatever it takes to get empty homes on market.
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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."