Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Baylor Behrens Takes 4th Place At State

Monday, May 22, 2023

NEWS ROUND-UP: Baylor Behrens Takes 4th Place At State

Behrens Captures Fourth Place at State: In recent years, Dorchester High School has managed to find good success with its track and field program. This year, five Longhorns made it to the state meet in Omaha (click here for the results) -- and sophomore Baylor Behrens came home with a fourth place finish in the 300 meters hurdles. Over the last 15 years, DHS has had top-four track-and-field finishers in 2009, 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2017.

Schedule for Memorial Day Services: Dorchester's Memorial Day service schedule has been set. On Monday, May 29, the Dorchester Cemetery service will be held at 10 a.m. The Pleasent Hill Cemetery service will begin at 11 a.m. The Legion will open at 8 a.m. for coffee and rolls. And an Dorchester Legion Auxiliary potluck will follow ceremonies at noon. Everyone is welcome!

Help Put American Flags on Dorchester's Main Street: The Sons of the American Legion will meet at the Dorchester Legion Hall this Friday, May 26 at 6 p.m. to put flags on veteran graves, then on main street. Anyone needing volunteer hours or who wants to help is welcome.

Help Wanted at City Slickers: City Slickers Bar and Grill in downtown Dorchester is in need of an evening dishwasher for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. This is a good position for a high school or college student wanting to make some cash this summer. Call (402) 946-2171.

Farmers Cooperative Recognizes Employee's Half Century of Service: Loyalty is rare nowadays. Finding an employee who has worked for the same employer for 50 years is almost unheard of. Farmers Cooperative, headquartered in Dorchester, has recognized Don "Potsy" Matejka for celebrating 50 years with the Co-op. Congrats on this remarkable achievement.

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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."