Dorchester Times: Jan. 7 Village Board Meeting Will Focus On Streets

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Jan. 7 Village Board Meeting Will Focus On Streets

The Times has been notified that the Dorchester Village Board will host a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 7 at the Village Fire Hall to address Dorchester's streets.

Several residents say this could be an interesting meeting considering that in 2019, the Dorchester Village Board will consist of three new board members and possibly a fourth, depending on the replacement for former Chairman Matt Hoffman. Only Trustee Andrea Pracheil remains from the previous board.

According to the notice, the town board will consider the adoption of a long-range street improvement plan for one year and six years.

Any interested persons are invited to attend this public hearing and to present pertinent information, data, views or to request additional information.

It is the opinion of this blog that serious paving plans should be taken up at this time, especially sensible plans to finish paving 11th Street, which has only four unpaved blocks from east to west. This is especially important considering the new addition for housing development coming to north Dorchester.

Also, we hope that the board will address the long-overdue resurfacing of Main Street and West 9th Street, as well as a possible ban on semi-trailers driving on paved public streets due to the serious damage such vehicles cause.

11 comments:

AnonymousDecember 29, 2018 at 7:18 PM
no semi trucks in town-----might wanna rethink that and i'm sure the board will!
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AnonymousDecember 29, 2018 at 10:14 PM
Even just having this consideration discussed before the village board means this town is starting to consider moving forward. Great progress! Let's bring life back into this town.
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AnonymousDecember 30, 2018 at 7:46 PM
Agree on the semi trucks, most towns and cities have weight limits on their side streets at least, when was the last time you saw a loaded semi on Forest St in Crete or on S 33rd in Lincoln
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AnonymousJanuary 1, 2019 at 9:54 AM
no loaded semis in town, really...
the only loaded semis that I see in town are farmers headed to coop, and without coop Dorchester wouldn't be for very long...also every business on main street has loaded semis bringing their supplies. Oh and the school...how would they get their goods without loaded semis. I see loaded semis delivering furniture to people on side streets, I have even seen a loaded UPS semi drop large goods on the side streets. I have meet loaded semis on side streets in Lincoln, Crete, and Friend. I know I am just a female but this is a loaded semi full of crap if you ask me. This kind of thinking and discussion is an explanation for why there are over 20 empty houses in town.
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AnonymousJanuary 2, 2019 at 10:26 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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Village DwellerJanuary 5, 2019 at 9:20 AM
The Dorchester Times staff in 2019 is choosing not to publish comments that make direct personal attacks or reflect negatively on our community.

We believe there are plenty of online venues for this type of behavior. The Times will not be an enabler for individuals who find joy in such venom.
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AnonymousJanuary 5, 2019 at 12:39 PM
Must have hit a personal situation?
DOES TRUTH HURT??
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AnonymousJanuary 10, 2019 at 10:41 AM
For those of us who were unable to attend the meeting of January 7th, I would like to see the Times publish the detailed minutes of the Board meeting. Actually, I would like to have the minutes of all the Board meetings published on this site. Thank you for your consideration.
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AnonymousJanuary 11, 2019 at 10:49 PM
Please, please for the love of God pave another street in town so the clodhopper in the GM truck with no muffler has another street to drive on and bothers someone else when it snows. Please. Pretty please.
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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."