Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: DVFD Burns Home To Make Room For New Construction

Sunday, April 13, 2025

NEWS ROUND-UP: DVFD Burns Home To Make Room For New Construction

(Photo Credit: Sharon Axline)

DVFD Burns Dilapidated Home Near School: On Saturday morning, April 12, the volunteers of the Dorchester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department conducted real-world training with a controlled burn of a vacant home at 605 W 9th St. It was the former home of longtime residents Rev. Roger and Marilyn Wolfe. Local photographer Sharon Axline captured images of the exercise. We are told the vacant lot will be the site of a new housing project, which will add a much-needed residential unit to our community.

Sharon Axline Receives Statewide Honor: The Nebraska School Activities Association has honored Dorchester's Sharon “Mimi” Axline, bestowing her with the organizations Above and Beyond Award. winner. A longtime business owner and DPS volunteer, Axline was honored for "her unwavering support, kind spirit, and tireless dedication to Dorchester Public Schools." At the Times, we treasure Sharon's constant effort to capture sporting events and other major community events with her amazing photography skills. Read the NSAA's award notice.

New Superintendent Building Home in Dorchester: For years, this blog has encouraged employees of Dorchester Public School, Farmers Cooperative, and other employers in town to live in Dorchester. One obstacle to making that a more common occurrence has been the lack of available housing. So we are thrilled to see that DPS' next superintendent, Dr. Nick Mumm, and his family are constructing a new house in Dorchester. The home will be the third unit in Dorchester's Northview Estates development.

School Board, Village Board Meet This Week: For members of the public who wish to get more engaged with their local government, the Dorchester Village Board will conduct its monthly meeting on Monday, April 14, at Farmers Cooperative at 6:30 p.m. Last month, the board discussed housing development plans, among other items. Also, the DPS Board will meet Tuesday, April 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the school library.

Spring Clean-Up Begins: Dorchester's Community Spring Clean-up will be from Saturday, April 19 to April 26. For Dorchester residents only, the dump site will be open Monday through Friday from 1-7 p.m. and Saturday 9-5 p.m. Accepted items: furniture, televisions, carpet, mattresses, metal, appliances, batteries, wood without nails. (No pallets, please. Also, no wet paint or other hazardous waste. No tires, no lead acid batteries, and no trash.) The attendant on duty has authority to accept or reject items.

DHS Alumni Golf Tourney, May 31: The annual DHS Alumni Golf Tourney will be held Saturday, May 31 at the Friend Country Club. Check-in will begin at 8 a.m., with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Learn more on page 15 of the DPS April newsletter.

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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."