Dorchester Times: Will Dorchester's Water Park Open This Summer?

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Will Dorchester's Water Park Open This Summer?

Just a few months ago, Dorchester residents -- especially the under-12 set -- were busting with excitement over news that the final features, including a "mega soaker," had been installed at the city park's new water park.

Then a global pandemic came along.

Sources tell us there are currently no plans to open the Dorchester splash pad this summer. That decision was reached earlier this month by the Dorchester Village Board, which oversees the splash pad's maintenance and operations.

In the era of COVID-19, it seems there are liability fears. Lawsuit concerns have plagued Dorchester's governing body -- and volunteer organizations -- ever since legal action was taken by a town resident in the early 2000s following a July Fourth accident.

Now several parents are weighing in on the Dorchester Community Foundation Fund's social media, saying they want the splash pad opened immediately. (The Foundation was responsible for raising the money needed to fund the splash pad.)

One resident wrote: "Can we have a community vote to open the splash pad??? If you are scared just stay home."

Another parent weighed in, saying: "Other towns are opening their pools. (The splash pad) is safer than a pool. I thought sun was good and killed the virus anyway."

We should mention that the Dorchester Times has been bombarded with emails asking when the water park will open. We cannot answer that since none of the six staff members of the Times currently has a role in village government.

Because the splash pad is the property of the village, it can be opened only by the village board.

Some residents have suggested the use of liability waivers, signed by parents, to absolve the village of any liability. Others have said that parents will need to take turns patrolling the kids if the water park operates this summer. And some have recommended that small blocks of time be reserved so the pad can be used just by kids who live in the same households.

As of today, June 13, there is no announcement regarding the splash pad on the village's official website, leaving parents and their kids in the dark.

Developing...

1 comment:

AnonymousJune 21, 2020 at 7:46 PM
Just open it !!!
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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."