By Fred Steiner

Blufftonforever.com has identified 10 of the most mysterious places in Bluffton, and this is installment three in that series.

When Bluffton’s early business district developed, its hub centered around the Main and Washington streets intersection.  

This may surprise many residents today.

Several buildings with multiple businesses existed there at one time. Some, but not all of those buildings remain today. Most prominent is the Et Cetera Shop at 327 N. Main., the Slaw Cutter and the red brick building across from Et Cetera.

Gone are a drug store and our mystery building.

Our mystery building

Few if any residents today have ever heard of The American House, The National Hotel or the Exchange Bank. The building housing these early Bluffton businesses is, sadly, no longer standing. It is one of the largest buildings building on Main Street that no longer exists.

It carried a Civil War-era building charm visible in similar buildings from that time frame.

Built probably in the 1870s, or earlier, it stood until the late 1930s or early 1940s–we are still researching that.

A two-story structure, it served as a hotel, a bank and probably other businesses. It stood in the location of today’s Tommy Tire’s building at 319 N. Main St.

The bricks used to construction this building were probably manufactured in Bluffton by “Uncle” Billy Lewis. His brickyard on Spring Street flourished from the 1840s to 1900. The English Lutheran Church, for example, is constructed with his Bluffton-made bricks.

By close examination of the photo you will see that its location appears to touch today’s Et Cetera Shop. 

Until this winter the memory of The American House was lost. The only thing of substance was one photograph with no one in it identified.

 A story published in the July 13, 1933, Bluffton New, and rediscovered this winter, changed that. Here’s what that story revealed. We do not know, however, what year the photo was taken or the occasion of the photo.

Sixty-year-old photo of early Bluffton owned by Mrs. Patrick

Photographic remembrances of one of Bluffton’s well-known landmarks, The American House, known 60 years ago as the National Hotel, was placed on display this week in the window of the Bluffton News.

The photo was loaned for display by Mrs. Minnie Patrick and was brought to the office by Med Murray.

At the time the picture was taken the old National Hotel was operated by Aaron Augsburger, father of Mrs. Patrick.

The building in the 60-year-old photograph in many ways resembles the old, brick structure which still stands on North Main Street.

Mrs. Patrick, then a small child, is seated in a high chair between her father and mother at the entrance to the building.

Many of the early Bluffton settlers also are in front of the hotel. Conspicuous among them is Hugh Langan, operator of Bluffton’s first banking institution, the old Exchange Bank, which had its quarters in the north end of the hotel building. In later years the bank was closed after a daring midnight robbery. 

The name of the hotel also was to be changed to The American House, by which name the building is still known.

Others in the picture whom Mrs. Patrick can identify are Jo Hall, Lucius Sidall, Ira Townsend, Hony Young, Abraham Niswander, Henry Ruhl, Dan McComb, a jeweler, Lee Steiner, now a doctor in Salem, Oregon, Mrs. Lena Crates Weber of Findlay, Mrs. Sophia Huttinger Rupright, mother of Turley Rupright and Tony Jackson, Bart Jackson’s brother.

One of the chief differences in the appearance of the building is a larger dinner bell on the roof. This was rung whenever meals were ready at the hotel, Mrs. Patrick explained.

The roof of the building is of the old clip-board type, Murray said, after examining the picture.

A flag stone walk runs around the building and a rough curbing made of large stones separates the walk from the mud street. An old wooden pump stands at the side of the building.

For additional photos, details about the building, businesses located there, and the people in the photo, visit https://www.blufftonforever.com/post/one-of-bluffton-s-most-mysterious-p... .