Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Dorchester Water Park Set to Open Yet This Summer

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

NEWS ROUND-UP: Dorchester Water Park Set to Open Yet This Summer

Splash Pad Set to Open Yet This Summer: As we previously reported, the water park in the Dorchester City Park has been closed this summer due to the pandemic. However, following a vote of the Dorchester village board last week, the splash pad will see action in 2020 -- and that's a big deal for Dorchester kiddos. For re-opening details, we suggest calling the Village Hall (402.946.3201) since the Village of Dorchester both owns and operates the water park.

Want the Village Board to Take Up a Topic?: The next Dorchester Village Board meeting will be Monday, Aug. 3. If you have a specific topic you would like the Board of Trustees to discuss at that meeting or any future meeting, you'll need to fill out a public agenda request form. Click here for the form. According to the village's official website, submission must be received no later than one week before the meeting. The item will be reviewed to determine whether or not it requires chairman/board action, or whether it is in an item that needs to be handled by village staff.

Dorchester Schools Provide First Details of Reopening Plan: Dorchester Public School Superintendent Daryl Schrunk, who as been praised by district patrons for his frequent communications, today released initial information about plans for returning to school this fall. The first day of school is Aug. 19. Schrunk's letter, which can be seen here, says that because of the fluid situation with COVID-19 cases, many definitive decisions will be delayed until at least Aug. 3. Schrunk says parents will receive a letter with those plans in early August, as well as a guidance document. The DPS administration is committed to creating as "normal of an environment as possible" for the students, Schrunk says, while putting safety first. In the meantime, keep abreast of DPS news via the DPS Facebook page and Twitter feed.

2 comments:

BcernyJuly 14, 2020 at 8:14 PM
Re evaluated on the 15th
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BcernyJuly 16, 2020 at 7:03 PM
Splash pad now open
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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."