Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: A Waiting Game On Main Street

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

NEWS ROUND-UP: A Waiting Game On Main Street

Waiting on the Future of Dorchester’s Downtown: City Slickers Bar and Grill -- loved by area residents for more than a dozen years -- has been closed since Aug. 1. The silence along Washington Avenue has grown louder due to the noticeable void in the local economy and social fabric. There have been rumors of financial troubles, including back-owed property taxes on multiple Main Street buildings. The community now wonders if these vital storefronts will remain stagnant or if a new chapter is on the horizon for the village’s main thoroughfare. For Dorchester to regain its momentum, the revival of these properties is essential. While the threat of a forced sale often looms in the background of financial hardship, a proactive move to list these buildings for sale could provide the spark the town needs. We hope new entrepreneurs or investors will soon be afforded a chance to give Dorchester's downtown new life.

DHS Girls Basketball Team Jumps to 5-0 Start: The 2025 Class D-2 state runner-up Dorchester Lady Longhorns basketball team has started the 2025-26 season on a five-consecutive-games winning streak. DHS has defeated Deshler, Meridian, High Plains Community, BDS, and Giltner/Harvard with a tough defense that has held most opponents to 36 points and under. Next up for the Lady Longhorns are road contests Dec. 18 at Osceola (3-1) and Dec. 23 at Elba (2-1). Here is a look at this year's team roster.

DHS Boys Struggle Early: The 2025-26 DHS boys basketball team has struggled out of the gate, losing its first five games. Up next for the boys are road games Dec. 18 at Osceola (1-3) and Dec. 23 at Elba (0-3). See the boys' roster.

Village is Selling GMC Pumper Fire Truck: The Village of Dorchester is selling its 1990 GMC pumper fire truck. Its a top-kick model with 4,035 miles and 648.1 hours. It will be sold to the highest bidder. Call Village Hall at 402-946-3201 for questions or more details.

New Business in Rural Dorchester: Darin Nerud of rural Dorchester has formed Bartuff LLC. The general nature of the business, which is located at 562 County Rd. 1700, is to engage in and do any lawful act concerning any and all lawful business, other than banking and insurance, according to a public notice.

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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."