Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Alumni Tourney Time Is Here

Sunday, March 10, 2024

NEWS ROUND-UP: Alumni Tourney Time Is Here

It's Alumni Basketball Tourney Time: It's Dorchester's "big dance" -- the DHS Alumni Basketball Tournament, set for Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16. This year marks the 28th year for the popular event, missing only 2020 (thanks, China virus!) over the past nearly three decades. Watch for participating alumni to be in town on Friday and Saturday with action taking place at the DHS gym.

Annual Steak and Burger Feed Is March 16: On Saturday, March 16, the Dorchester Community Foundation Fund's Annual Steak and Hamburger Feed will be held in conjunction with the Dorchester High School Alumni Basketball Tourney. The feed will take place from 5 p.m. until roughly 9 p.m. Read the Times' full story.

Celebrate City Slickers' 11th Anniversary: Come celebrate the 11th anniversary of the regionally famous City Slickers Bar and Grill in downtown Dorchester on March 16, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Live music will be provided by Cole Younger and the Renegades. Drink specials and giveaways, all coinciding with the equally famous Dorchester Alumni Basketball Tournament.

Hailey Schweitzer Earns Statewide Honor: DHS' Hailey Schweitzer was recently honored by the Nebraska School Activities Association when she was presented the NSAA's "Believers and Achievers" award at the Nebraska Girls State Basketball Championships. The Believers and Achievers award was designed to reward high school students for their excellence in academics and participation in NSAA activities. These winning students are involved in both school and community activities along with a commitment to citizenship.

Know of Students Wanting to Transfer to Dorchester?: If you know of any high school students wanting to transfer from another school district to Dorchester for next school year, they should file by March 15. Option Enrollment applications can be submitted after March 15, but after March 15 permission from the student's home district will be required. If students are accepted after March 15, they would still have to meet a May 1 deadline to be immediately eligible for activities in the fall. For more information, call Dorchester Public School at 402-946-2781.

Roesler Is Dorchester Utility Superintendent: Village of Dorchester employee Trent Roesler has been named the village's utility superintendent by the village board, according to the minutes from last month's board meeting. The board meets again Monday, March 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Farmers Cooperative meeting room for its regular monthly meeting.The meeting is open to the public.

Happy 93rd Birthday, Bob Kasl: Dorchester's Bob Kasl is celebrating his 93rd birthday this weekend. Be sure to tell him happy birthday when you see him.

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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."