Ever wonder who owned the first motorized vehicle in Bluffton? Or, who had the first radio?
How about, who had the first running water hookup, electicity in a house? And, when was the first airplane spotted over Bluffton?
These obscure fact have answers. For the record, here goes:
• Frank Scott, a Bluffton banker, owned the first automobile in Bluffton. The exact date of the purchase is not known, but when he traded it in on his second car in 1904, it was mention in the Bluffton News of his having owned a car for “sometime now."
Scott’s new car arrived two weeks ahead of one ordered at the same time by G. W. Combs. Scott’s car was an Elmore. Combs’ owned a Currier.
• It is difficult to establish definitely the year or the owner of the first radio in Bluffton because the first sets were homemade and no one, apparently, tried to claim the distinction.
There are several possibilities, but it is generally agreed that D.C. Bixel possessed what was probably the first “crystal set” in Bluffton.
His son, Dr. Gordon Bixel, set the date at approximately 1914 to 1916. The set received only Arlington time signals.
• The first Bluffton house to receive water and electric current from the municipal water works and light plant still stands at the corner of North Jackson Street on the site it occupied 124 years ago, when these two features were made available in 1896 and 1897.
The house at 152 N. Jackson St., at the time was owned by M.M. “Dode” Murray. He left no stones unturned in his effort to make certain that he would have the distinction of being first to be served by the new municipal utility.
Murry made a special trip to Lima to buy pipe, Hurrying home, he had the connection made by a water works employee as water lines were being laid throughout the village.
When word spread that Murray had water available, most of the town gathered at his home and he treated them to an impromptu show by watering his lawn and garden with the hose, and ending by giving the street a good soaking.
• In 1897 when the light plant was placed in operation, Murray again made arrangements to be the first customer, and his house was ablaze with lights before wiring had been completed in most of the other houses in Bluffton.
• The first airplane to be sighted over Richland and Orange township was spotted shortly after 1 p.m. on May 25, 1918. It was flying an estimated height of about a quarter mile.
Some residents along the route of the flight were mystified when they heard what they thought was the motor of an automobile and yet saw no vehicle.
These "first" facts are found in "The Town and The Fork of the Riley Revisited," published by the Bluffton News in 1986. The material in this stories was originally published in the Bluffton News.
Today each is part of forgotten Bluffton.
