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Historical Bluffton

114 Fourth of July’s ago Jule Benroth set a Bluffton speed record

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Imagine a hot air balloon ascension in Bluffton years before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane.

Imagine Bluffton’s first-ever automobile to hit a speed of 50 miles per hour–114 years ago–as an enormous crowd watched in awe.

Years before 45817 existed, the story of Bluffton’s post office

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Six early Bluffton postmasters sat for this Will Triplett photograph in the 1930s.

This impressive group of men represent 66 years of postal service to the Bluffton community. During their eras, the post office was originally located in the town hall, then in early 1900 moved to Vine Street and later to the building housing Roots by Stratton's. Then, in the early 1940s the present post office building was constructed.

Kibler and Grove before houses

Unusual snapshot reveals a forgotten Bluffton of 100 to 125 years ago

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Yes, this is a Bluffton street intersection. But, where? Only one clue reveals the location. A street sign on the right side of the intersection reads “GROVE ST.” A second street sign on the pole next to the Grove Street sign, not readable however, identifies what is today’s Kibler Street

A handwritten sentence on the photo’s back side confirms the location. It reads: Bentley Road and Grove Street Bluffton, Ohio – looking into Kibler Street.

Below the handwriting it is a stamped “Neu-Art Studio, photographers, Bluffton, Ohio.”

This photograph came from Paul Klassen, one of Bluffton’s oldest residents, today in his ninth decade.

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Book burning in Bluffton 105 years ago

Involving 40 Bluffton High School students during the noon hour

By Fred Steiner

Can you imagine a book burning frenzy in Bluffton? That happened exactly 105 years ago on the banks of the Big Riley, according to an account in the Bluffton News. 

The story from April 1918 Bluffton News:

The German text books used by the German classes in the high school were burned by a party of about 40 students Thursday afternoon.

Bluffton brush with history

In 1943 a Bluffton man sat beside General Pershing in a bus

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Spoiler alert – You’d better read this entire feature to the very end.

The longest-running column in the Bluffton News titled “Mainly Personal,” ran weekly from the very early 1940s to the late 1960s.

Next to sports and obituaries, it was the most watched-for column in the paper. Ted Biery created it, Milt Edwards continued it and Charles Hilty kept it going.

What was it? Let’s put it this way–It was 80 years ahead of Twitter, TikTok and any social media conception imaginable. It included several very short pieces on Bluffton residents and former residents, basically being themselves.

At the bottom of this story is a 1943 sample of one of the columns.

Here is a Bluffton brush with history, posted in the April 8, 1943, Bluffton News Mainly Personal column.

Meeting an internationally famous general most unexpectedly was the experience last week of Willard Lee, residing northwest of town, while on a bus between Toledo and Detroit.

Lee took a seat in the bus beside an elderly looking gentlemen and the two struck up a conversation touching on such topics as the weather, crops and the war.

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Bluffton African-American history comes to life

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

A little known, interesting Bluffton fact is that the community has been home to African-America residents and visitors earlier than most people realize. 

Recent discoveries found in Bluffton News microfilms prior to 1910 sheds light on this early history.  This feature examines many of these residents and visitors.

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