Dorchester Times: Random Thoughts: City Website, Halloween, Toilets And Drains

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Random Thoughts: City Website, Halloween, Toilets And Drains

This feature is called "Random Thoughts."

What you are about to read are the collective random thoughts and observations of the Dorchester Times staff, posted by our own Village Dweller. Some of the musings will be provoking or enlightening; others will have less intellectual depth than the kiddie pool.

In any case, if you read something you agree with, let us know in the comments box. Disagree? Do the same. Have a random thought you want published, send it to dorchester.times@gmail.com.

Enjoy.

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Friend Website modernization should be model for Dorchester: We read in the Friend Sentinel that the City of Friend is updating its website. According to the story, the city website features a newly updated business directory, access to city council minutes and links to the city’s social media pages. Future plans include a downloadable city code book, list of available properties for development and available jobs within city limits. We especially like including access to council minutes, notices from the board and administration, and the municipality ordinances. The Village of Dorchester needs to do the same. It's 2018 (almost 2019) -- government transparency needs to be online.

Question: What do social media (primarily Facebook) and Halloween have in common? Both let you know which adults among us are mentally unstable.

This Halloween, be aware of where sex offenders reside: Halloween night is yet another time for parents take appropriate steps to ensure the children's safety. As we reported earlier this year, there are currently more than 20 registered sex offenders in Saline County, with one offender residing in Dorchester; four offenders in Wilber; one in Friend; one near Milligan; one in Western; two in DeWitt; one near Tobias; and 13 in or near Crete. In Lancaster County, there are more than 800 offenders listed. Seward County has 35 offenders listed, including four in Milford. Be alert this Halloween. Know your neighbors and check if there are any registered offenders in your area.

Dorchester sewer cleaning company wants you to cover those drains, toilets for 12 days: Recently, Dorchester's village government contracted with Johnson Service Co. to check and clean Dorchester's sewer lines. Residents in town recently spotted yellow notices on their doors, advising people to cover floor drains with plastic, as well as toilets. Great to hear that the sewer lines are being cleaned. Not so great to be told to keep drains and toilets covered from Oct. 29 through Nov. 9.

1 comment:

AnonymousNovember 1, 2018 at 11:40 AM
Ha! You guys crack me up. Touché on the joke about Halloween.
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Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

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."