Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Dorchester's Construction Boom Continues

Saturday, August 26, 2023

NEWS ROUND-UP: Dorchester's Construction Boom Continues

Construction Boom Continues: Dorchester's construction boom of 2023 continues as more improvements are occurring on Dorchester's main street. This week, major renovations were completed to the former Sehnert's Ford Garage on the corner of Washington Ave. and East 8th St. The large windows were replaced and a second overhead door was added. The last time the building was used in active commercial activity was 1975, according to our records. Current owner L.J. Barley, owner of Barley's Specialties, is reportedly planning to use the building as part of his operations.

DHS Football Kicks Off With 59-26 Win: The Dorchester football team opened its 2023 campaign with an emphatic statement, posting a 59-26 victory over St. Edward at Nerud Field on Aug. 25. DHS opened the floodgates with 32 points in the third quarter, demonstrating that they know the six-man game. The Longhorns get a week off before heading to Red Cloud on Sept. 8.

Lady Longhorns Open Season With Two Victories: The DHS volleyball team has earned its first two wins of the season, defeating St. Edward and East Butler this week. The Orange and Black Attack beat St. Edward in three straight sets, while beating East Butler 3-1. On Thursday, Aug. 31, Dorchester travels to Weeping Water for a triangular that includes the host and Palmyra, both of which are Class C teams.

Big Rain Hits Saline County: There are reports of some area rain gauges overflowing as northern portions of Saline County and southern Seward County received between 3 inches to six inches in the past 24 hours. See these precipitation maps. There are reports from Dorchester with rainfall exceeding five inches since Friday night. This latest round of rain is likely to make a big dent in the next drought monitor report.

Longhorn Journalism Students Take Broadcasting Honors: DHS' Jacob Cerny and Ariana Tellez received gold honors for best public service announcement video in the high school division of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association’s Pinnacle Awards held Aug. 9 in in LaVista. Watch the video here.

Dorchester Times Nears 50,000 Visits in 30 Days: Over the past 30 days, this modest little blog has attracted 47,595 visits. Thank you readers.

BBQ Food Truck Coming Monday: The Pork's Done BBQ food truck will be downtown to serve Dorchester on Monday, Aug. 28 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Here's the menu.

1 comment:

AnonymousAugust 27, 2023 at 8:22 AM
Vil needs to update their camera. Holy bat blur.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Village Dweller checks all reader comments to determine if they are appropriate for print.

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."