Dorchester Times: NEWS ROUND-UP: Former Dorchester Grocery, Hardware Buildings For Sale

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

NEWS ROUND-UP: Former Dorchester Grocery, Hardware Buildings For Sale

Former Grocery, Hardware Buildings on Main Street for Sale: If you've ever wanted to own one of Dorchester's main street buildings, now is your chance. There's a "for sale" sign in the window of the Betel Worship Center, with an asking price of $80,000. It's our understanding the building to the north is part of the deal. Modern-day residents will remember the building as home to the Dorchester Grocery -- which closed in 2007 -- and before that Torson's Grocery and Dorchester Hardware, and before that Orv's Grocery. Next door was the West Side Cafe, Virgie's Cafe, and a host of other businesses through the decades. (A century ago, the side-by-side buildings housed Troyer Furniture and Undertaking, as well as Tom Jarrett's Hardware as shown in this photo.)

'Nebraska Farmer' Features Shelly Bruha's Restored Tractor: "Nebraska Farmer" magazine recently published a story on longtime Dorchester area farmer, and now village resident, Shelley Bruha. According to the article, Bruha restored his father's 1946 John Deere GM tractor decades after it left the family. As a young boy, Shelley rode the tractor through a fencerow when he couldn't activate the tightened hand clutch. His father had the clutch rod extended by a local welder to give young Shelley enough leverage. Decades later, Shelley found the tractor rusting under a shade tree on another farm and recognized it by that unique extended hand clutch before bringing the wartime-era machine back into the family.

Football, Basketball Camps For Kids: Get ready to up your game, kids. Dorchester Public School coaches are offering young players a chance to improve their football game or just learn the basics. On June 22 and 23, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. both days, the Longhorns Youth Football Camp will be held at the game field for students going into the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. There is no cost to attend and attendees can just show up both mornings. Call Coach Zoubek at 402-418-1019 for more information. Then on June 29 and 30, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the school gym, DHS coaches Corey Bird and Brandon Bruha will conduct the Longhorn Basketball Camp for kids going into grades 1-8. Again, no cost to attend. Just show up the mornings of camp. For more, email corey.bird@dorchesterschool.org.

Darlene Gerner Passes at Age 90: Longtime area resident Darlene Libbie Gerner, age 90, of Milford, passed away on June 13. Born on March 29, 1936, in Crete to Edward and Libbie Nerud, Darlene had a genuine character and quiet courage that has left an everlasting mark on her family, friends, and all that knew her. Read the full obituary here. Services are Saturday, June 20, at 10:30 a.m. at the Pleasant Dale United Methodist Church with lunch to follow at the Pleasant Dale Legion Hall. Graveside service at 1:30 p.m. at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, rural Dorchester. Read the full obituary.

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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."