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There are times when small packages offer huge surprises. This photo represents one of those times. The original photo is a snapshot measuring 2 by 3 inches. It is taken from a family album, but carries no explanation.
When enlarged the photo reveals much. Of course, you recognized the view is Main Street Bluffton taken from what today would be in front of Common Grounds coffee shop looking north. Judging the Ford Model T on the left, which appears to resemble a 1915 model, that puts this photo in the mid-1910s.
As you closely examine the buildings on the west side of Main, you start at the very edge of The Bluffton News office (the building with the pillars) and as your eyes travel north you realize that there are very few changes to the store fronts in nearly one century.
The street is bricked. The Western Ohio Railway rails are in the center of Main Street. Above the rails appears a narrow streak. It is the electric wire used the provide the interurban with power.
Next examine the power poles. There are tall ones with four rows of power lines. Then, below them are shorter ones. Those are for the interurban wire.
One curious piece in this photo is that the entrance ways into building have steps leading "down" to the sidewalk. Today there are no such steps, which means that the sidewalks today are higher than the sidewalks of 1915.
We aren't certain of the letters on the building behind the Model T. The letters appear to spell "BON TON" but time has lost the meaning of the message.
At the time this photo was taken, Main Street was also known as the Dixie Highway. Every traveler from Florida to Michigan using the Dixie passed through Bluffton on Main Street, as the interstate highway system was created about 40 years after this photo was taken. You can imagine the interesting collection of traffic such a route might provide.
We welcome Icon viewers thoughts on this interesting photo.
(Photo from the collection of Fred Steiner)
