Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Nearly 2,000 Visit Dorchester This Weekend

Sunday, March 17, 2024

NEWS ROUND-UP: Nearly 2,000 Visit Dorchester This Weekend

Big Turnout for Dorchester's Annual Spring Activities: The 30th annual DHS Alumni Basketball Tournament, the Dorchester Community Foundation's annual steak feed, the 11th anniversary of City Slickers Bar and Grill, and karaoke at East Side Bar and Grill brought tons of visitors to Dorchester this weekend. At any given time Saturday evening, there were between 100-200 vehicles down town. Based on headcounts and car counts conducted by Times staff, we estimate nearly 2,000 people were either at the school to watch the tournament or to participate in downtown activities. Impressive numbers for the village.

DPS' Ridpath Named Teacher of the Year: Dorchester educator Karma Ridpath has been selected as the 2024 Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association (NRCSA) Outstanding Elementary Teacher of the Year, according to social media reports. Recognized at the March 14 NRCSA conference in Kearney, Ridpath was awarded the honor for playing "a major part in creating an intervention time for K-6 students to receive what they need to improve their reading skills. She continues to spark discussion for change to benefit our students in the best way possible."

DHS Quiz Bowl Teams Take Third: Dorchester's junior high and the high school quiz bowl teams recently placed No. 3 at the Crossroads Conference Quiz Bowl held at Meridian Public School. Coached by longtime DHS educator Sandy Severance, the high school team was comprised of Gabby Theis, Bailey Theis, Addison Lehr, Owen Vyhnalek, Andrea Pavlish (Captain), Ashton Jirsa, Amber Kotas, Victoria Leavitt, Madison Theis, and Baylor Behrens. The junior high team was comprised of Lyberty Bartlett, Ella Vyhnalek, Kendall Kasl, Blake Cerny, Max Novak, Troy Dawes, Faith Elkins, Thor Nerud, Trevin Steuk, and Josh Gordon.

East Side Unveils 2024 Polka Lineup: The East Side Bar and Grill has posted its schedule for this year's polka shows. See it here. Things kick off today, March 17, with a fantastic polka show by Kenny Shuda from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Dorchester Community Foundation Seeks Intern: The Dorchester Foundation and Nebraska Community Foundation is looking for an intern who would be an employee of NCF, and funded by the Dorchester Foundation Fund. This intern will work primarily with the village and be supervised by Jen Kasl. The intern won’t necessarily work 40 hours a week, and they most likely will help us on research for Dorchester's 150th birthday (about seven years away), the community's 4th of July celebration, among many other things. Jen and the intern will attend a day idea sharing/orientation workshop. For more information, call Dale Hayek at (402) 641-4075 or email dhayek@farmersco-operative.com.

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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."