Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: July 4 Activities, New Welcome Sign, New Museum Building

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

NEWS ROUND-UP: July 4 Activities, New Welcome Sign, New Museum Building

New Welcome Sign Coming to Dorchester's North Side: The Dorchester Community Foundation Fund's social media account shows the Dorchester welcome sign lit up in Independence Day colors. The Foundation says: "Happy Fourth of July everyone! To keep everyone informed of the second welcome sign ... yes, it finally is coming. It will be placed on the west side of highways 6 and 15 at the junction of the spur leading into Dorchester. As soon as the weather clears, footings will be poured and the sign erected. This will be a good complement to the south one on Hwy. 33."

Free Snow Cones in Dorchester on July 4: The Times has learned that Jason and Cathy, owners of City Slickers, will be giving out free snow cones on July 4. According to the communication we received, "They are doing this to say thank you to the community for their support during the year. Snow cones will be available on the corner in front of the Village Office on the afternoon of the 4th." Meanwhile, a second snow cone vendor, who is new to the Dorchester business community, plans to be selling shaved ice cones (taste more like ice cream) at the ball field at the softball tournament on July 4 and before Dorchester's free fireworks show on Friday, July 6. This is according to e-mails sent to the Times.

Another New Building At Museum: You may have seen the construction site on the south end of town. It turns out that the Saline County Historical Society has broken ground on another new building at the museum, according to the museum's social media post, which said: "This new building, which will be located at the east edge of the museum grounds, is possible because of a generous donation made by the Bernard and Helen Kaspar family. It will house farm and other agriculture-related equipment from Saline County's past." The building is expected to be completed sometime in August, according to the Village of Dorchester's zoning notice.

Dorchester Fireworks Sales Hours: In an ad that ran in the Friend newspaper, we see that Dorchester's fireworks stand, which is located just south of the fire hall, is open 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. now until June 29, and from 1 p.m. until 10 p.m. June 30-July 1, and from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. July 2-3, and from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. July 4. We are told there is a big sale on Saturday and Sunday, June 30 and July 1.

Dorchester's Independence Day Schedule: As we've reported earlier, Dorchester's free fireworks show will now be held Friday night, July 6. (In our humble opinion, this is a worthwhile experiment since half the town residents seems to be shooting their own fireworks during the professional show, anyway. Also, we hope this move will reduce the number of fireworks being ignited after 11 p.m. on Independence Day.) The rest of Dorchester's July 4 celebration will go on as planned. See the entire schedule here. Also, see the Dorchester 4th of July Committee's social media.

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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."