By Fred Steiner, www.blufftonforever.com
This is a continuation of the www.blufftonforever.com series featuring Bluffton’s 10 most mysterious locations.
What is the oldest existing structure in the village of Bluffton? Where is it and what was its use?
The answer: The remains of a lime kiln and ashery used in making lime and soap. You will find it on the Riley Creek bank at the bend of Thurman Street, across from the EMS building.
On your next trip down Thurman notice the mound across from the EMS building. If you stand on the mound and look down at the creek bank you will see the remains of the limestone foundation of the kiln.
When and why did the kiln close? As fewer trees were removed and burned, and as other sources for lime increased the kiln eventually ceased operations. We aren’t even certain when this took place, but it was probably a gradual decline.
We have three sources explaining the lime kiln. Here are portions of those.
Here’s the first, taken from a 1933 Bluffton News. It was part of a series of historical articles commemorating the first 100 years of the arrival of European settlers to this community.
The Old Lime Kiln by Homer Steiner
One of the remaining landmarks of earlier Bluffton is fast disappearing, but traces thereof are still quite discernable.
It is the old Bluffton lime kiln on Thurman street, opposite the J.E. Steiner home.
Years ago, Lucius Siddall and his father saw the need of lime for this community and attempted to build what was considered a modern plant at that time.
Having a very high creek bank to start with, they laid the foundation on the creek bottom on stone. This was built several feet high and then on top of this was started the kiln proper, which was approximately eight feet in diameter.
The kiln was lined with fire clay brick, making a chamber about 18 feet high.
At the top it was necessary to build a fill, which was made of dirt and stone and up this incline limestone was hauled in two-wheeled carts.
The limestone was poured in at the top upon a fire that was fired at the bottom of the kiln and burned continuously.
Wood cut in four-foot lengths was used for fuel. This firing required two or more men who worked in shifts.
Every six hours a draw was made – that, is some of the stone in the bottom was sufficiently burned to serve as lime and after cooling was shoveled into binds and ready for sale.
Sixty years ago (reference to the year 1873) lime was a very essential material in Bluffton, as in other new communities where much building was going on.
Cement at that time was practically unknown and difficult to obtain.
Lime was used in making mortar for brick and stone work and most of the older buildings in the town and surrounding country contain some of the lime from the Bluffton kiln. This lime was used both for laying stone foundations and also for plastering.
This story is from the Bluffton News printed in Jan. 19. 1961. It accompanied a photo, which is the earliest we have of the kiln. Charles Hilty took the photo and write the photo identification line.
Only a mysterious hump beside Thurman Street, the old Siddall lime kiln presents a different face to the cameraman who scrambles down to the bed of Riley Creek for a view of the kiln.
A further reminder that early industry in many towns was clustered along the creeks, and that Bluffton did much of its growing up in the Thurman street neighborhood, this old kiln was in operation in 1880.
Stone taken from the creek. Bed and from the near Siddall quarries was burned with wood to make lime. The crumbling stone walls enclosed all that remains of the old kiln and its chimney.
This story is from “The Town at the Fork of the Riley’s,” a book printed during the 1961 Bluffton centennial. That explanation follows:
As European settlers arrived in northwestern Ohio after 1832 they began clearing the heavily-wooded countryside. That set the stage for one of the town’s earlier industries: asheries. These operated using a by-product of that land clearing.
Ashes obtained from trees burned to open up fields were treated in the asheries to obtain lye, essential during this period in the making of soap.
It appears that Shannon had at least two asheries, perhaps even three.
Ashes treated in the log-lined pits sunk deep into the ground were purchased from farmers clearing their land.
As they burned the timbers in huge piles the remaining ash piles were loaded onto wagons and brought to Bluffton where they could be sold for a moderate cash return.
At the asheries, the ashes were piled in deep pits made up of layers of crossed sticks and straw followed by ashes and repeated the depth of the pit.
Water was allowed to trickle through this pit bleaching the ashes and producing raw lye in the process.
This was siphoned off from a trough in the bottom. From this lye, Bluffton pioneers made soap.
For the complete feature and to view additional photos visit www.blufftonforever.com.
