Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Cerny Heading To State Speech Contest

Sunday, March 6, 2022

NEWS ROUND-UP: Cerny Heading To State Speech Contest

Not Too Late to Sign Up for Baseball, Softball: Did you miss the March 1 sign-up for Dorchester youth baseball and softball? Your child can still participate. Sign-up sheets are at the front office of the school. Call 402-946-2781 for more information.

Cerny Earns Spot at State Speech Contest: DHS' Jacob Cerny received first place at last week's district speech contest, thereby earning a spot at the state speech competition. Ashton Jirsa also placed today at districts, taking fourth place in informative speech.

Village Board to Meet Monday: The Dorchester village board meets Monday, March 7 at the Community Building. Discussion on a potential new hire for the village's open maintenance position, as well as future development plans, is expected. (See the board's meeting minutes from past meetings.)

DHS Alumna Lavina Pisar Melichar Passes at Age 100: DHS Class of 1939 alumna Lavina Pisar Melichar passed away Feb. 25 at age 100 on Feb. 25 in Nebraska City. She was born Sept. 28, 1921 in Dorchester to Frank and Anna Pisar. In 1939, Lavina set out on her journey to become a registered nurse and worked at the Crete hospital for decades. Funeral services were held Saturday, March 5.

Biden's Big (and Getting Bigger) Blunder on Keystone XL: It's hard to believe, but it has been 14 months since President Joe Biden revoked the Keystone XL oil pipeline permit. At the time, with Fox Business reporting from Dorchester's main street, the move seemed like it would impact only only our economy, killing an estimated 26,000 U.S. jobs and harming our nation's energy security. Now we see the move had global implications, as the U.S. exports less oil (and imports Russian and Middle Eastern oil), thereby emboldening Russia and Iran to move on their global agendas. Thanks, Joe.

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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."