Dorchester Times: Two Memorable Dorchester Properties Gone

Saturday, November 29, 2025

Two Memorable Dorchester Properties Gone

Dorchester looks noticeably different this week after the removal of a pair of well-known local structures.

Demolition crews have removed most of the former former Ford dealership and garage at the corner of 8th Street and Washington Avenue (Main Street). Currently owned by LJ Barley of Barley Specialties, the building had been used for storage since business operations ceased in the mid-1970s following the retirement of Henry Sehnert.

The structure sustained major roof damage during last August's severe windstorm. According to credible reports emailed to the Times, Barley intends to build on the site.

Not all residents we have spoken with are optimistic. Some have raised concerns about what may replace the former Ford garage. Multiple residents noted that the last property Barley purchased and tore down — the lot just south of the city park — has since been used for storing scrap metal and inoperable vehicles, blighting the community. However, Barley's new building to the north of the current demolition project has added considerable value to Main Street by bringing two new businesses to town.

"This site is extremely important considering its prominence along Dorchester’s main business corridor," said one resident who emailed the Times.

Meanwhile, another landmark disappeared as Dorchester’s historic "Sears home," located at 201 Washington Ave. for the past century, was lifted from its foundation and transported out of town on Thursday, Nov. 26. Built around 1925 as a Sears and Roebuck mail order kit, was transported out of town Thursday, Nov. 26. The house, which was a Times' Home Improvement Award winner in 2023, was a rare surviving example of its kind in the area. It has reportedly been moved near the West Blue Church northeast of Dorchester, where it is expected to be preserved.

With these two departures, Dorchester loses both a significant piece of its Main Street commercial past and a bit of its residential architectural heritage. In a town where familiar landmarks help anchor community identity, residents will be watching closely to see what fills the newly open spaces — and how village leaders and property owners choose to balance preservation, progress, and property stewardship in the months ahead.

2 comments:

AnonymousNovember 29, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I am happy that LJ and Sam are willing to try and make Washington Street look better. The cost to fix the building that is being torn down was probably way more than putting up a new building. It is sad to see the building go, but we need to move forward and make our town look better.
Deanna Bird
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Just SayingNovember 29, 2025 at 9:44 AM
You guys bashed Crete's LB840 program, but maybe Dorchester could use its own LB840 initiative to restore some of these main street buildings instead of letting private citizens tear down more eyeball pleasing brick buildings and slapping up some tin shed that won't last 30 years. Wait until the next major hail or wind storm. Aluminum cans.
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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."