Dorchester Times: Student Essay Excerpts Show Young People's Vision For Dorchester

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Student Essay Excerpts Show Young People's Vision For Dorchester

This past fall, we reported on an essay contest being sponsored by Renew Dorchester, the upstart non-profit group in town that's focused on efforts to enhance our village's main street and housing.

It's worth noting that Renew Dorchester's first project out of the gates wasn't an effort to raise money, but to award it to Dorchester's young people by getting them engaged in the town's development plans.

Renew Dorchester's "Vision 2030" essay contest asked DPS students in grades 3-12 for their ideas and input on how to make their hometown better over the next 12 years, by 2030. In addition, the essay ask for ways the students could "make Dorchester better right now."

For the past several days, we have seen that Renew Dorchester has been running excerpts from the essays on its social media page. Some of the ideas have been amusing, others have been insightful.

It is encouraging to see that so many of Dorchester's students, especially the young up-and-comers, spent time thinking about their community and how they'd like to see it grow and improve.

The following are some of the student ideas that stood out to us:

"I hope Dorchester will get a dog park so that dogs can go play with other dogs."

- Fifth Grader

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"One of my favorite things about Dorchester is that it is very calm and peaceful. Dorchester has lots of friendly people. I think it is cool that when I pass someone I can smile and say "hi" and know they will say "hi" back. ... I think we can improve Dorchester with technology, by improving the town's internet. It would be cool if we even had a place with free wi-fi that served milkshakes."

- Fourth Grader

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"In the year 2030, when I come home from college, I hope Dorchester will look awesome. I love living in Dorchester but I think a few changes would be good. First I believe Dorchester needs a grocery store. It would be good for people who are older and can't drive to other towns to get their groceries. Second, I would like all the streets to be paved so I can ride my bike because on gravel it's hard. ... I would also like to see improvement with phone reception for emergency reasons, so if someone needs to call 911 it doesn't disconnect."

- Third Grader

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"Other students and I can improve Dorchester right now by participating in Dorchester school sports to show Longhorn Pride. ... We can show other communities that Dorchester is a great place to live by respecting their property when we visit other towns. We can also keep our town looking nice by participating in community clean-ups. The community should all contribute to festive events such as Fourth of July parade and fireworks. ... The FBLA members are great to look up to because they do community service while learning how to be business leaders that could contribute back to Dorchester."

-Seventh Grader

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"I feel we need to build newer homes. Most of the homes in Dorchester are like 100 years old and many need upgrades. This is not the 1990s anymore. With new and improved homes, more people would be moving here, but I don't want us to grow as big as Lincoln. I like Dorchester being a small community."

- Third Grader

***

You can see all the student essay excerpts posted by Renew Dorchester by clicking here.

7 comments:

AnonymousJanuary 4, 2019 at 12:32 PM
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AnonymousJanuary 4, 2019 at 9:04 PM
"Can't we all just get along? ". Rodney King
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Village DwellerJanuary 5, 2019 at 9:19 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 3:45 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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AnonymousJanuary 5, 2019 at 5:17 PM
Thanks, Times! You rock.
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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."