To read Robert Kreider's reflections on "Armistice Day" click here.
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
A word about the Nov. 11, 1918, photo.
This snapshot was taken by my uncle, William Hahn. It was taken on Nov. 11, 1918, at the announcement of the end of the Great War, which we call World War I.
Or was it? A "false armistice" of Nov. 7 was also celebrated. Could this have been taken on Nov. 7? We don't know for certain, however, whenever this photo was looked at in my home, it was always said: "This is Armistice Day, 1918." Who is going to question a grandmother, who is in the photo!
Bertha Althaus Hahn, my grandmother, would then point out others on the truck and their relationship to Bluffton...where they lived...what church they attended...lodge...business... Sorry, I don't remember the names.
She is standing on the bed of the truck as it turns the corner from Main to Cherry. She is on the far left, holding her hat. The photographer, her oldest son, William, was a senior at Bluffton High School and had just recently acquired a camera.
My mother, Margaret Steiner, who was about 5 years old when this was taken, liked to point out the dogs in the photo. It seems that dogs roamed at large in the village, and they took advantage of a parade to prance on their own down Main Street. She claimed to be standing on the street corner with her brother as he took the photo.
Notice that the street is brick paved and that the rails of the Western Ohio Railway (interurban) are evident. There are several automobiles parked along the street. The Presbyterian Church has a bell tower (no longer present).
Notice the number of school-age youth in this photo. From this we might assume that the photo was taken later in the afternoon of Nov. 11, when school was out for the day.
Several questions are raised by the photo: 1 - Who put this "parade" together, whose truck is it, who decided who was going to ride on the truck and were there other trucks, cars, horses or people in this event?
Those questions may never be answered. However, the photo shows a moment of national history and how it was celebrated in Bluffton, Ohio.
