Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: DHS Girls Basketball Team Improves To 8-4

Sunday, January 15, 2023

NEWS ROUND-UP: DHS Girls Basketball Team Improves To 8-4

DHS Girls Surge to 8-4: Dorchester's girls basketball team has won its last three contests -- beating Friend, East Butler, and High Plains (Polk-Hordville-Clarks) -- improving to 8-4 on the season. On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the Lady Longhorns will face a key test, hosting Class C-2 Cross County (12-3). Meanwhile, with about two-thirds of the season completed, the boys team has struggled with a record of 1-10. The boys did, however, pick up their first win earlier this month against Lincoln's College View Academy. See the schedules for both DHS teams here.

Eastside Bar Publishes Polka Dance Dates: Dorchester's Eastside Bar and Grill has published its 2023 schedule for upcoming polka dances, including one to be held from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. today, Jan. 15. See the full schedule here.

Multiple Lots Still for Sale: According to Realtor.com, more than half a dozen lots are still for sale in the annexed north end of Dorchester. The lots, which are roughly a third of an acre, varying in asking prices between $21,000 and $25,000. Two homes have been built in the annexed area since the development was initiated in 2018. Meanwhile, the Times has been informed that a resident of town who had planned to build on the east edge of Dorchester no longer intends to go forward with the construction, despite taxpayers spending large sums of money to prepare the development. Residents can learn more about Dorchester's housing development plans by attending monthly village board meetings. (The next meeting will be Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Dorchester Community Building.)

Village Board Approves Amended Redevelopment Plan: On Jan. 3, the village board gave its approval to an amended redevelopment plan for Dorchester. In short, the amended plan calls for a cost-benefit analysis, while renaming the development plan to the Village Infrastructure Redevelopment Project. The project will rely on tax increment financing, also known as TIF, to help make new development and upgrades financially viable.

Dorchester Native Doris Eret Richtarik Passes: Rural Dorchester native Ann (Eret) Richtarik, 89, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023 in Lexington with family by her side. Read her obituary here.

1 comment:

AnonymousJanuary 16, 2023 at 6:24 AM
Those lots need to be larger to appeal to 90% of buyers. Also need trees to block the view of the spur
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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."