Dorchester Times: Saline County Historical Society Board Members Are Our Citizens Of 2022

Friday, December 30, 2022

Saline County Historical Society Board Members Are Our Citizens Of 2022

* Correction - 1/4/2023: Connie Strouf emailed the Times to let us know she is not president of the Saline County Historical Society, but that the organization's president is Larry Kaspar. Strouf added: "Between Larry and Judy Rada, past president, they are the backbone of the museum and I personally can't thank them enough for their leadership in making the Saline County Historical Museum 'the place to come to, to learn, and have fun!'"

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The Dorchester Times proudly names the board members of the Saline County Historical Society as the "Dorchester Citizens of 2022." All of them.

While many board members do not have a Dorchester address, their energy and passion for our county and its history have reinvigorated the south side of Dorchester and boosted the museum to a new level of energy not seen since its founding in the 1960s. See the list of board members here.

The Saline County Historical Museum is operated by volunteers. The board consists of 10 individuals that meet quarterly.

It takes a dedicated volunteers working together to achieve a great quality of life. Our county museum -- led by Historical Society President Connie Strouf and former President Judy Rada -- not only make life in Dorchester and the surrounding area more enjoyable, they have renewed Saline County's sense of pride in its history.

This year has been a great one at the museum -- from special events like a fall festival and a collection of roughly 80 nativity scenes, to numerous improvements inside every building located on the museum grounds.

Previous winners of the Dorchester Times' Citizen of the Year Award have been the small business owners of Dorchester, splash pad donors, Brent Zoubek, Greg Tyser, Peg Bergmeyer, Penny Keller, Carol Olson, Dale Hayek, Bill Velder.

Honorable mentions submitted to the Times by staff members either this year or in previous years include (in no particular order): The members of the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Dept. and Rescue, Dorchester Public School staff, Bret Cerny, Roger Miller, Judy Schweitzer, Bob and Marva Kasl, Daryl Schrunk, Andrea Pracheil, Julie and Joe Holly, Deanna Bird, Craig Bergmeyer, Amanda Cerny, Sarah Wenz, Tom Cerny, Larry Kaspar, Phil and Bernice Weber, Lyle Weber, Donna Parks, Shelly and Rose Bruha, Todd Axline, Jason and Kathy Duhrkop, Mike Pracheil, George Kasl, Ben Haufle, Marv Kohout, Matt Smith, Novak Auction Service, Don Eret, Steve Ottmann, Scott Pohl, Eric Stehlik, Joyce Karl, Adam Briggs, Rob Parks, John Bruha, Mark Bors, Joel Weber, LJ Barley, Mark Bartek, Allan Papik, Dan Nerud, Mike Nohavec, Brandon Bruha, Lisa and Kevin Veprovsky, Kelly Vyhnalek, and Sandy Rains.

Congratulations to our Times' Citizens of 2022.

1 comment:

Sandy Kasl RainsDecember 30, 2022 at 9:59 AM
Thank you for sharing this! Yes well deserved. Thank you for all your posts keeping the community informed . I do still remember the Dorchester times and creating the longhorn newletter mailing at school in the 70’s .
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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."