Dorchester Times: December 2024

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Christmas Gatherings In Dorchester

Dorchester has Christmas spirit.

Christmas lights are on all over town, with more than a quarter of the village's homes having lights.

What's more, several Christmas gatherings are planned over the coming days and weeks.

Here's the lineup:

- The first Christmas event will be Sunday night's (Dec. 1) Dorchester American Legion Family Christmas Party. Join friends and family for food, drinks, presentations from the Jr. Auxiliary, and even Santa. Doors open at 5 p.m. with food being served around 6 p.m.

- On Monday, Dec. 2, Dorchester High School will host its Christmas concert, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the school. This is always a seasonal favorite in the community.

- The Dorchester Elementary School Christmas concert will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12 at the school. Get there plenty early; this will draw a large crowd.

- On Saturday, Dec. 14, the traditional Morning With Santa will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Community Building and Legion Hall. A free-will donation breakfast will be hosted by the community foundation fund starting at 8:00 -- everyone of all ages is invited. Santa arrives at 8:30 a.m. This gathering will feature special events for the kids!

- The Saline County Historical Society will host a free old-fashioned holiday gathering on Saturday, Dec. 14 at the Saline County Museum in Dorchester from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

- The Dorchester United Methodist Church's Christmas Eve service will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 24 at 5 p.m. Everyone is welcome. (Children's program will be held during the regular service on Sunday, Dec. 22 at 9:30 a.m.)

Monday, December 9, 2024

DHS Basketball Tips Off New Season

A new season of DHS basketball is underway.

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the Orange and Black Attack this year, especially when it comes to the girls basketball program. Some are speculating that with a great amount of effort and consistent play, this year's team could be headed to the state basketball tournament in Lincoln.

The Lady Longhorns, under the tutelage of coach Brandon Bruha, are off to a 2-0 start. The girls beat Deshler 42-32 on Dec. 5. The next evening, Dec. 6, DHS handed Meridian a 45-35 loss.

Next up for the Lady Longhorns will be a Dec. 10 road trip to High Plains Community (2-0) and then a Friday, Dec. 13 road contest at BDS (2-0). On Dec. 17, the girls travel to Harvard (0-1).

Meanwhile, the DHS boys team are off to a 0-2 loss start, losing their opening contests to Deshler and Meridian. On Dec. 10, the boys will travel to High Plains Community (1-1). On Dec. 13, DHS will take on BDS (1-1) in another road contest.

Go Big D!

Friday, December 6, 2024

Dorchester's Tom Scheffert Passes At 70

Thomas Leroy Scheffert ("Big Tom"), 70, left this world Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 in his
home in Dorchester after a 24-year battle with congestive heart failure. He was telling his wife what to do right to the end.

He is survived by his loving wife and companion of 32 years, Patricia (Skutchan) Morfeld, his loving sister, Gayle (Scheffert) Beals, and her husband, Patrick of Lincoln, his niece Kimberly (Beals) Luzum, her children Chandler and Kaden Lukert and Emma Kasl, great-grand nieces Aleah and Emerson, nephew Ryan Beals and his wife Kara, and their son Charlie of Omaha, his aunts Jane Scheffert and Loretta Pape, as well as numerous cousins, his stepsons, Shon Morfeld and girlfriend Tonia Sutliff of Tempe, AZ, and Michael Morfeld and children of Chandler, AZ.

He was preceded in death by his father, Glen “Jack” Scheffert and his mother, Darlene (Rosekrans) Scheffert, his grandparents, several uncles, aunts and cousins.

Tom was born June 18, 1954 in Lincoln and lived by Centerville until his parents moved to the farm south of Dorchester in 1963. After graduation in 1972, he worked at the Crete Mills and the Dorchester Coop for many years and Peterson Vise-Grip in Dewitt for eight years. He owned and operated a salvage yard in Dorchester for four years. He owned and operated a semi for 20 years. In 2020, he had to retire to town as he could no longer maintain the farmyard due to his health.

He always said he loved the life he lived. He was a life-long farmer and enjoyed visiting with friends about farming and learning about farming in Arizona. For the last seven winters, Tom and Patricia snow-birded in Arizona, buying a place near Casa Grande, AZ.

Tom loved dirt track racing. He owned and drove stock cars and IMCA modifieds, starting in 1976 until after 2001. He made a multitude of friends over the years, both in racing and everywhere he went.

He will be greatly missed by everyone he touched in his life.

Tom’s ashes will be spread on the farm he loved. There will be no service but a celebration of life will be held at a later date in Dorchester.

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."