Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: County Hearing On Solar Standards, June 16

Sunday, May 31, 2026

NEWS ROUND-UP: County Hearing On Solar Standards, June 16

Saline County Hearing on Solar Standards, June 16: At 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, a public hearing will be held on Saline County's proposed zoning regulations. The meeting will be held at the Saline County Courthouse in Wilber in the Assembly Room. Comments can also be sen to the Saline County zoning administrator at 402-821-3326 or lweber@salinecountyne.gov. Norris Public Power District, which is a monopoly, government utility, is currently building a distributed network of solar sites in the region, including a facility planned in Saline County with more than 2,000 solar panels. Nebraska is not currently short of electricity supply, and its power grid is ranked among the most reliable in the U.S. However, the state is experiencing an unprecedented "energy crunch" as utilities struggle to build out new infrastructure quickly enough to match exploding demand from AI and other newer uses.

Village Splash Pad Is Open: Dorchester's water park is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Tuesday, Thursday, & Sunday, it's open 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Dorchester Football Camp, June 22-23: Dorchester will again hold its Youth Football Camp on June 22 and 23, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The camp is especially for youth in grades 3-8. Forms are available at the Village office, which is open weekdays 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Village Imposes Watering Restrictions: Water restrictions are in effect for watering lawns and gardens, according to the Village newsletter. Even-numbered houses are allowed to water on even-numbered days, while odd-numbered homes can water on odd-numbered days.

Village Board Meeting, June 8: The next Dorchester Village Board meeting is set for Monday, June 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the Farmers Cooperative headquarters building. Attendees should use Door No. 2. The meeting is open to the public.

State Democratic Party Officially Claims Smith: Recently, we shared our concerns regarding "dark money" from leftist organizations sent to the campaign of Shay Smith, a Crete-based lawyer who is running for State Legislature as an "independent." One reader accused us of "falsely flying our red flags." Yet days later, the Nebraska Democratic Party issued this news release celebrating Smith's candidacy, in what is an obvious endorsement. The state Democrats are clearly aligned with Smith. As we wrote back in mid-April, because the Nebraska Legislature is non-partisan, voters are at a distinct disadvantage when candidates refuse to publicly identify their true beliefs.

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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."