Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Sub-District Time For Lady Longhorns

Sunday, February 15, 2026

NEWS ROUND-UP: Sub-District Time For Lady Longhorns

Dorchester Girls Head to Sub-Districts: It's been a tale of two seasons for DHS Lady Longhorns basketball. Coming off a Class D-2 runner-up finish last season, the Dorchester girls opened the 2025-26 campaign 11-1, losing only one contest up until Jan. 20. Since then, the DHS girls have lost seven of their last 10 games, standing at 14-8 now. On Tuesday, Feb. 17, the Orange and Black Attack will travel to Falls City for their sub-district play, taking on Diller-Odell at 7 p.m. The winner will most likely play last year's Class D-2 champs Falls City Sacred Heart on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Cornhole Tournament is Feb. 21: Did you know that the popular game of skill now known as Cornhole was around as early as 1883, originally called "Parlor Quoits"? The sixth-annual Cornhole Shootout will be held Saturday, Feb. 18 at Tabor Lodge. Registration will begin at noon that day. Shooting starts at 2 p.m. There will be a 64 team limit. Players need to be at least 16 years old. Entry fee is $30 per team and there will be a 50% payout. Food and beverages will be available. To pre-register of for questions, call Mike Pracheil at 402-641-1921.

March 15 Soup Luncheon: The ladies at the Methodist Church are planning an event that's sure to tantalize the taste buds. The annual soup luncheon will be held Sunday, March 15, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Dorchester Methodist Church. Whether you fancy chili, clam chowder, chicken noodle, or liver dumpling, you'll savor every spoon full. There is no charge for the event, just a free-will offering.

Much of Nebraska in Drought Once Again: The unusually warm and dry winter has most of the Cornhusker State in drought once again. The most recent edition of UNL's drought monitor map shows nearly all of Saline County in "abnormally dry" status.

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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."