Looking Back: The School Buildings Of Dorchester

Did you know that Dorchester is currently on its fifth school building in the past 149 years. It's true.

More than a decade after the construction of the current Dorchester Public School building, we're taking a look at the history of the structures that have housed our community's educational system.

The first term of school taught in Dorchester occurred in 1872 at a select school held in the McIntyre family home, which happened to be Dorchester's first house and was located near the present Methodist Church. 

Also in 1872, District No. 44 -- the present school district -- was organized, even though there were only 21 children of school age residing in the district.  

Later that year -- nine years prior to Dorchester's official founding -- nearly $3,000 in bonding authority was approved to build Dorchester's first schoolhouse, which was a two-story building. The first floor of the 1872 school was used for school instruction, while the upper level was used for public meetings and worship services. In fact, it was here that the Dorchester Methodist Church first organized around 1874.

By 1879, more than 100 pupils were enrolled in Dorchester Public School. 

By 1883, the town's longest running newspaper -- The Dorchester Star -- was advocating for the construction of a larger school. 

Six years later, in 1889, district patrons approved $12,000 in bonding authority to build a new school that was built in 1890 (pictured above). What a grand structure it was. (It sat where the current new gym is.)

During the 1911 school year, Dorchester was formally organized as a K-12 district. The class of 1914 was the first DHS class to graduate from an accredited twelve-grade high school. 

As more area families placed greater importance on education, the 1926 Dorchester school board voted to build a new school -- just 35 years after the completion of the 1890 school building. The bond election was successful by a two-to-one margin and a new three-story school building was completed in December 1927.  It sat where the current DPS Library is.  (The DHS Class of 2020 was the first class not to have attended school in the 1927 building.)

A large addition to the 1927 school was approved in May 1963 for approximately $300,000. It included the present-day basketball/volleyball gymnasium, cafeteria, hallway classrooms, and music room. 

The 1964 gym and cafeteria are still standing and in use.  Both have been renovated in recent years and look as fresh as the rest of the school building, which was constructed for $4.5 million during the summer of 2008 following overwhelming voter approval.