Denison Herald
1905

The first station of importance on the Frisco, southwest of Sherman, is located in the finest black waxy land to be found in Grayson County. It is in the very heart of the grain belt and a large elevator built there as soon as the Frisco had laid its track into the town and was crowded to its full capacity this year to handle the grain."

The town was named for C. B. Dorchester, cashier of the Merchants and Planter's Bank, Sherman. It was the trading post for the Frank Sperry Stock Farm, the Harrison Davis Ranch and other ranches in the neighborhood. Between 1910 and 1930, Dorchester had the grain elevator, two cotton gins, a bank doctors, a barber shop, lumberyard, blacksmith shop, Masonic Lodge, depot, shipping pens, a telephone exchange, post office, Baptist Church, grade school and high school, its own baseball team and two filling stations. Red brick buildings with white trim were built on both sides of the main business street which was wider than most and had a well and a water trough in the middle of it.

Businessmen were:
Lawrence Harmon, drug store
E. M. Simpson, drug store
Bill Moss, first general store
Ed Abbott, general store
William Bain, general store
"Scotty" Mercer ran on of the gins
Mr. Caudle ran the grain elevator
Andrew Tucker, grocery store
Three doctors: Ridings, Ledbetter, Swafford
Barbers: Mr. Whitehead, Bob Lamb

Bank employees were Elias Mackey, president; Top Mackey; Bert Mackey; Homer Graham; Val Murrell. In the 1930's, President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed all the banks and the bank in Dorchester never re-opened.


Postmasters were Wes Newman, Murray L. Newman, Bill Sharp, Mrs. Lucy Messick. Rural mail carriers were Bill Spears, Bob Hamilton, Bill Hamilton.

Gradually the buildings were torn down or sold. The old well was paved over. The high school and grade school closed. The last to go was the cotton gin owned by Kay Kimbell.

The tall metal grain elevator constructed by Kimbell in the 1950's is a landmark that can be seem from a distance since Dorchester is near the highest point in the county and is the highest town in Grayson County.