Dorchester Times: Random Thoughts: DHS Wrestlers Shine Bright Early In New Season

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Random Thoughts: DHS Wrestlers Shine Bright Early In New Season

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 thought-provoking and 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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Dorchester's Wrestling Team Has Strong Showing in Season's First Tournament: While the news media do not cover high school wrestling the way they do basketball, it's important that our readers be kept in the loop on all student athletics. We appreciate an update from a loyal reader who let us know that the Dorchester varsity wrestling team featured several top finishers in their first tournament of the season at Meridian High School. Cole Johnson captured second place, Gabe Lara took third place, and Jose Real brought home place. Nice going, Longhorn grapplers!

Dorchester is Very Affordable, Says Site: The website Livability.com presents interesting analysis of Dorchester's Census data and other relevant information. According to the site, the median income in Dorchester is $45,417 while the median home value is $87,800, which speaks well of Dorchester's affordability. The median age in Dorchester is 36 (Remember, this statistic would be distorted if we have lots of babies in town, or lots of really old people.). And about 55 percent of the community is male. Fewer than 13 percent of Dorchester's population are veterans of the military.

Sen. Ebke Looks for Scapegoats: Last week, outgoing state Sen. Laura Ebke took to Facebook, writing, "Last year at this time, I was under attack by the Nebraska Republican Party for showing 'It's a Wonderful Life' for constituents in four local theaters. That was the beginning of the end of my term in office." To be fair, senator, you abandoning the GOP shortly after campaigning as a "Reagan Republican," followed by your vote against the death penalty, was the beginning of the end. That said, thank you for your service. It's a brutal job and not worth the paltry $12,000 a year.

7 comments:

UnknownDecember 11, 2018 at 1:44 PM
Fortunately,old people aren't having children.
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AnonymousDecember 11, 2018 at 2:00 PM
Laura and Hillary! 2020
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AnonymousDecember 11, 2018 at 7:07 PM
Way to go DHS wrestlers!! We are proud of you keeping the team and spirit alive. As a former DHS coach would scream till he had no voice left, " "Stick him!!!!"
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AnonymousDecember 11, 2018 at 8:32 PM
So the old D.A.R.E program stood 4 drugs are really excellent??
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AnonymousDecember 11, 2018 at 8:45 PM
Thank you for your comment on Laura Ebke. You hit the nail on the head. She was responsible for her own demise. As her daddy is an attorney, sister is a judge (Linda Bauer), grandpappy was mayor of Fairbury, she will undoubtedly land on her feet. I hear she already has a gig lined up for next year. Bye, Bye Laura.
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AnonymousDecember 12, 2018 at 12:40 PM
This forum really is a free for all
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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."