Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Fall Festival/History Day At Saline Co. Museum, Sept. 24

Monday, August 29, 2022

NEWS ROUND-UP: Fall Festival/History Day At Saline Co. Museum, Sept. 24

County Museum Fall Festival: We now have it from official sources. There will be a "Living History Day at the Museum" festival at the Saline County Historical Museum in Dorchester on Saturday, Sept. 24. The no-cost, family-oriented event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Historical skills and demonstrations will take place throughout the day, we are told. Food will be available for purchase. Attendees are encouraged to bring their family members, friends, and lawn chair and stay the entire day. Any donations will go towards new flooring in the main building, according to an email sent to the Times. This is sure to be an autumn highlight.

DHS Volleyball Prepares for Next Challenge: After handling East Butler last Thursday in three straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-17), the Dorchester High School volleyball team (1-0) is setting its sights on tougher challenges. The Orange and Black Attack will travel to Palmyra this Thursday, Sept. 1, for a triangular that features two Class C-2 opponents, Palmyra (1-1) and Weeping Water (2-0). Insiders tell the Times that this triangular will tell us a lot about the Lady Longhorns and their abilities.

DHS Football Stumbles in Season Opener: The Dorchester High School football team lost its 2022 season opener on Friday, Aug. 26. In a road contest, the Longhorns fell to St. Edward 16-27. DHS led after one full quarter of play, 16-6. But Longhorns failed to maintain their momentum, giving up 21 unanswered points. Now DHS has a week off to regather and prepare for Red Cloud, which visits Dorchester and Nerud Field on Sept. 9.

Support the Longhorns - Join the DHS Booster Club: Dorchester Longhorn fans all across the state and the nation are invited to join the DHS Booster Club. The Booster Club supports Dorchester's student-athletes by raising money for much-needed supplies, equipment, uniforms, and/or capital items beyond what the school budget can provide. If you are a DHS parent, alum, or a friend of Dorchester, you may send your contribution to: DHS Booster Club, 506 W 9th St., Box 7, Dorchester, NE 68343.

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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."