Dorchester Times: Dorchester Now Part Of Nebraska Main Street Network

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Dorchester Now Part Of Nebraska Main Street Network

A big announcement has landed in our inbox.

The Nebraska Main Street Network reports that Dorchester is now connected to the statewide organization that helps communities revitalize their downtowns and overall quality of life.

Renew Dorchester, the new community group focused on growing Dorchester by improving the village's main street and housing, applied for the membership and is paying the annual dues, we are told.

What is most impressive is that "Dorchester joins Bassett as the only two communities in Nebraska participating at the Rural Network level with populations at or below 1,000," according to a news release issued by Nebraska Main Street Network.

According to the press release, the Network partners with communities to help them understand the Main Street approach and how to use it in their community.

"Connecting people to knowledge and resources, exchanging ideas and working together is how the Nebraska Main Street Network provides the guidance that communities need to remain vibrant places to live and work," the organization said. "By integrating design, promotion, organization and economic vitality into a practical downtown management strategy, communities experience changes in their economic base, while reusing and enhancing existing historic commercial buildings."

The news release quotes Renew Dorchester's Treasurer and Secretary Deanna Bird.

"As an organization, Renew Dorchester is just getting started," said Bird. "Our mission is to enhance the community's quality of life, primarily through growing Dorchester and its opportunities for the future. Our board determined that membership to Nebraska's Main Street Network would be tremendously helpful in this endeavor, especially as we look for ways to beautify Dorchester's main street and enhance the overall image of our community. The expertise and experience of NMSN will help Renew Dorchester map its goals, involve more residents and meet our goals."

“We are excited to welcome Dorchester to the Main Street Network here in Nebraska.” said Elizabeth Chase, Executive Director of the Nebraska Main Street Network. “A community’s downtown business district is the heart of the community. We look forward to learning more about Dorchester and see how we can help them to mobilize their stakeholders to work on projects and activities that generate economic investment and bring vitality back to their downtown for the long-term.”

For more information on the Nebraska Main Street Network visit www.nebraskamainstreet.org.

This is exciting news for our community and we anxiously await the potential improvements that will come from Dorchester's alliance with this statewide network.

1 comment:

AnonymousFebruary 8, 2019 at 10:16 PM
Nice!!!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

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."