Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUNDUP: Longtime DPS Educator Announces Retirement

Friday, May 13, 2022

NEWS ROUNDUP: Longtime DPS Educator Announces Retirement

DHS Alum Elected to Statewide Leadership Spot: DHS graduate Mike Feeken (Class of 1996) was recently installed as the 2022-2023 president of the Nebraska Economic Developers Association. Feeken has worked in the economic development field for many years and is currently an executive with First Five Nebraska, an advocacy organization that urges support for early care and learning opportunities for Nebraska’s youngest children.

DPS Educator Theresa Johnson Is Retiring: At the end of this school year, longtime Dorchester Public School educator Theresa Johnson is retiring after 36 years of teaching. Her friends and family are throwing a retirement party at the Dorchester Legion Hall on Saturday, June 4 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Everyone who has been impacted by Mrs. Johnson is invited to stop by and say "congratulations!" This is not a surprise party, we are told. Food and drinks will be provided. No gifts requested.

DHS Freshman Qualifies for State Track Meet: Baylor Behrens this week finished second in the 300M hurdles at district, finishing with a time of 51.74. Her impressive time means she qualified for the 2022 State Track and Field Championship next Friday and Saturday late next week at Omaha Burke. See the schedule of events.

DHS Students Keep Bringing Home Journalism Awards: Several DHS students recently placed in the Nebraska Press Women High School Communications Contest. Those bringing home awards included Madison Sherwood; Jacob Cerny; Ashton Rasplicka; Mitzu Real; Hailey Schweitzer; and Danni McKnight (who graduated last year).

DPS Looking for Paraeducator: Dorchester Public School is looking for a paraeducator for the 2022-2023 school year. Click here for more information and how to apply.

1 comment:

AnonymousMay 14, 2022 at 7:16 AM
I like the new font! Must be new ownership at the Times, finally.
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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."