Check the photos at the bottom -
Any guesses why the walkway between Ten Thousand Villages and Shannon Theatre narrows half way back to the parking lot behind the buildings?
You probably aren’t even aware of the narrowing. But, there’s a reason why it does, and you may find it difficult to believe.
Once upon a time there was a railroad siding in that alley.
What? A railroad siding on Main Street? Yes. Here's the story.
The siding was on the Western Ohio Railway, whose tracks were in the center of Main Street. The Western Ohio was an electric interurban. It took passengers and freight from Main Street Bluffton all the way to Toledo and Cincinnati between the years 1906 to 1932.
During that period, the building housing Ten Thousand Villages was the interurban depot and freight house. The Shannon Theatre building did not exist at this time, so the alley way was originally wider than today. (The Shannon building was constructed immediately after World War II.)
The reason why the Ten Thousand Villages walkway narrows is this: The railroad siding allowed freight cars to park and unload and load in that space.
The siding, call a "hole," required extra room, so the building was narrow in front and wider where the siding ended.
Next time you walk past the building look at the wall. There are large windows and doorways now covered over. Those were used to unload and load freight cars.
Two of the photos accompanying this story demonstrate how the siding operated.
The two are bird’s-eye-views of Main Street. One photo shows a single car at the bottom left. It was a Dayton and Troy interurban car. It’s headed north toward Findlay.
The top three cars are also headed north. Two of the top cars are freight trailers. The trolley pole at the rear of the bottom car indicates the car’s direction. You see, the pole drags behind the car.
In the next photo one interurban car can barely be seen while another, in full view, is on Main Street. The “hole” or freight siding, enabled cars to also pass one another on Main Street.
The rare photos were taken sometime before the automobile arrived in Bluffton. You can see horse and wagons on the street. Also in view are items being unloaded or loaded into the interurbans.
Bluffton resident, Maynard Mann, is believed to be the photographer of these two photos. Will Triplett took the photograph showing the interurban at street level.
An interesting fact is that the interurban rails are still under Main Street. They were originally place in cement, on order by an early Bluffton mayor. During World War II an attempt was made to remove the rails to make bullets for the war effort.
The task didn’t work, so the town paved over the rails. And, today, the rail siding, depot and tracks are part of forgotten Bluffton.
