Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: FBLA, 1894 Train Tragedy, Football Camp, Crete Bus Fees

Sunday, June 30, 2019

NEWS ROUND-UP: FBLA, 1894 Train Tragedy, Football Camp, Crete Bus Fees

DHS FBLA Students in San Antonio to Compete Nationally: Dorchester's future business leaders continue to shine as our school's FBLA national qualifiers are currently attending the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas. DHS, which continues to boast one of the state's best FBLA chapters regardless of school size, qualified 11 students in five events. Follow their San Antonio adventures on the chapter's Facebook page.

Dorchester Youth Football Camp Coming Up Soon: For Dorchester's future football stars, it is never too early to start brushing up the skills. The coaches at DHS are offering young players a chance to improve their football game or -- if they aren't familiar with the game -- just learn the basics. On July 8-9, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. both days, the Dorchester Area Youth Football Camp will be held for students going into the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Cost is only $25. Included will be: skill development; athletic fundamentals; drill work; position education; team time; and 6-on-6 passing drills. Call Coach Zoubek at 402-418-1019 for more information.

125 Years Ago, Tragic Train Deaths in Dorchester: Do you get annoyed by the whistles blaring from the locomotives passing through town? Well, there's a reason they still blow their horns. According to research by the Dorchester Times, 125 years ago, three Dorchester residents were struck and killed by a train here in town. On Oct. 20, 1894, Mrs. Mary Sawyer and her two daughters, ages 16 and 18, were hit while crossing the Burlington tracks. The train conductors were charged with failing to adhere to regulations pertaining to speed and sounding their horn.

Crete Public Schools Faces Petition Over School Bus Fees: 10/11 News reports that in Crete, it can cost you $300 for each child that rides the bus to school if you live fewer than four miles from school. One school district patron is now going door to door, collecting signatures to overturn the policy. 10/11 found that other schools in the area, like Dorchester and Wilber, do not charge. Neither does Lincoln Public Schools, but Waverly and Beatrice do.

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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."