Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Village Board Chair Resigns; Seat Must Be Filled

Saturday, October 21, 2023

NEWS ROUND-UP: Village Board Chair Resigns; Seat Must Be Filled

Pracheil Resigns From Village Board: For the second time in just a few months, another member of the Dorchester Board of Trustees has stepped down. Andrea Pracheil, who had been serving as board chair, announced her resignation, which took effect on Oct. 10. Now the village is in need of a qualified registered voter, who lives in the village limits, to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of the four year term, which ends Dec. 9, 2024. If you are interested in being nominated to fill the vacancy, drop off or mail a letter of interest and resume to the Village Clerk, 701 Washington Ave., PO Box 287, Dorchester, NE 68343. Letters and resumes must be received by 4 p.m. on Nov. 9, 2023.

Volleyball Team Concludes Regular Season, Prepares for Sub-Districts: The DHS Volleyball team hit a rough patch at the end of the regular season, dropping six of the final nine contests and going one for three in the CRC tournament. The Lady Longhorns can be proud, however, compiling a 16-10 regular season. Now the Orange and Black Attack must focus on staying alive in the post-season at the Class D1-1 Sub-District Tourney at Johnson-Brock High School. The third-seeded DHS will face No. 2 Diller-Odell (18-9) at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 23. The winner will most likely face No. 1 Johnson-Brock (21-6) on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m.

DHS Football Plays Final Game of 2023: Dorchester High School football finished the season just 1-7, falling to Pawnee City 25-52 Friday, Oct. 20. This isn't the first time Dorchester's football program has endured a period of tough luck. In the early 1970s, the DHS football team endured three straight seasons without winning a single game. When the boys finally broke their losing streak in 1975, the Longhorns were presented an autographed football from the University of Nebraska football team, hand delivered by NU fullback Tony Davis. (Keep in mind that the losing streak came immediately after Dorchester had fielded an undefeated team in 1971 under Coach Jack Guggenmos. That squad was considered the best in Class C by many experts.)

Jirsa Named to All-State Chorus Again: Congratulations are in order for Ashton Jirsa, a DHS senior who has been selected to the Nebraska Music Education Association All-State Chorus for the fourth consecutive year. The NMEA all-state event will take place Nov. 16-18 in Lincoln.

Bob Duchek Celebration of Life, Oct. 21: There will be a celebration of life event held Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Dorchester American Legion from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please feel free to wear Husker attire; Bob was a big fan of the Big Red -- and the game will be on.

John Howlett Passes: DHS alumnus John Michael Howlett, 77, Martell, passed away Sept. 15. He was the son of Fred L. and Beulah (Formanek) Howlett and grew up in Dorchester. He graduated in 1964 from DHS, where he lettered in three sports, played the baritone sax in the band, and attended Boys State. Growing up, John followed the footsteps of his brothers and delivered the Lincoln newspaper in Dorchester. He also worked with his father at Dorchester's Howlett Produce Station (south of the city park), delivering feed and picking up eggs. Read Howlett's obituary.

1 comment:

Old No. 64October 21, 2023 at 9:57 AM
Vil Dweller keeps talking about Devaney years and early Osborne years. Man, times are hard for Nebraska football fans!
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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."