Dorchester is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in northwestern

Allamakee County Allamakee County () is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,061. Its county seat is Waukon. History Allamakee County was formed on February 20, 1847. The derivation of the name is ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, United States. It lies along local roads just off

Iowa Highway 76 Iowa Highway 76 (Iowa 76) is a state highway located in northeastern Iowa, most of which is in Allamakee County. The highway connects McGregor to Eitzen, Minnesota via Waukon. It begins in McGregor at an intersection with U.S. Highway 18; th ...

, north of the city of Waukon, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Allamakee County. Its elevation is 738 feet (225 m). The town was originally settled by Harvey Bell and Edmund Bell, and was named after Dorchester, England. Although Dorchester is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, with the ZIP code of 52140, which opened on 21 May 1857. Dorchester is located in Waterloo Township.

History

Dorchester was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ted in 1873. Dorchester's population was 56 in 1902, and 90 in 1925. Dorchester's location in the flood plain of the

Upper Iowa River The Upper Iowa River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwest of the United States. Its headwaters rise ...

makes it vulnerable to flooding; the community was damaged by high waters in August 2007. It was worse hit on 8 June 2008 and succeeding days: over seven inches (over 18 cm) of rain fell on the eighth, and resulting record high floods of 22½ feet (20½ m) almost destroyed a trailer park that was a significant part of the tiny community. An LP gas tank from Dorchester was discovered just eight hours later in

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...

, on the opposite side of the county.Dorchester residents work to recover from last weekend's flash flooding
, '' Waukon Standard'', 2008-06-20. Accessed 2008-06-20.

Education

All students in the area are enrolled in the

Allamakee Community School District The Allamakee Community School District (also known as ACSD) is a public school district based in the city of Waukon, Iowa, Waukon in Allamakee County, Iowa, United States. The district is mainly in Allamakee County, with a small portion in Winne ...

in Waukon, even though Dorchester is closer to

Spring Grove, Minnesota Spring Grove is a city in Houston County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,330 at the 2010 census. It is part of the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office has been in operation at Spring ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Allamakee County, Iowa Unincorporated communities in Iowa 1857 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1857 {{AllamakeeCountyIA-geo-stub