FLASHBACK: 10 Years Ago, UNL Photojournalists Visited Dorchester

Ten years ago this month, photojournalists from UNL dropped in on the Village of Dorchester.

The students spent spent several days and nights in town to document how Nebraskans were being affected by the economic downturn, now known as the Great Recession. (As we know today, Nebraska wasn't all that impacted by the recession compared to most other states.)

The students -- in addition to taking photos -- wrote a blog one their Dorchester adventure. One of the posts features an interview with then-Dorchester Grocery owner John Bruha.

UNL journalist Patrick Breen wrote: "One of the things that small communities do well is support each other. Or at least that is what we were finding in other towns. The only difference here in Dorchester was that there was a Wal-Mart nearby in Crete."

Breen's blog post continued: "(Bruha) said people would drive the extra time and use about $5 in gas, which might make-up the difference in their bill. He is right. Wal-Mart brings down small businesses like his. He said that times are tough, but he hopes it gets better."

UNL journalist Kyle Bruggeman noted that his crew enjoyed their time at Joe's Place. He wrote: "Small town bars have a much different attitude than those of larger cities. In Lincoln, for example, one must usually wait in a line just to get in. Once you've finally made it to the bar your battling another line of people to get a drink.

"Joe's Place is not anything like the situation described above. Here you can get in easily and the bartender asks you if you need anything before you get to the counter. It's a friendly place where the entire family is welcome and price of a cold beer on tap is only a dollar. A great price during these economic times. The lyrics to the old television show Cheers describes it best: where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came."

Perhaps the most telling comment from the stories was the comment that the students were sad to leave Dorchester.

To see the UNL 2009 reports on Dorchester and the photos, click here and here.