Denny Morrison provide The Icon with this black and white snapshot. It is of Denny's father-in-law, Allan McCluer and Denny's wife Donna McCluer Morrison (sitting on the tractor). Also in the picture is Mr. Hardwick, operator of the Marathon station, which was located at the corner of Elm and Main. Today it is the A to Z Portion Meats buildling. Denny say he still has the can of oil that is being given to Al.
What's on at the Carma Theater? Looks like the laugh riot of the year. Which leads to the question, what is the year. Based upon the yellow and black license plates, the year is 1971. The photo is taken from the steps of the Bluffton post office. Hey, is that Joe's Pizza on the west side of the street? Paul Diller took this photo. It is from the Jim Diller collection.
Raise your hand if you remember Bluffton Fire Department number 3 tanker. Was it an early 1950-era Chevrolet? Paul Diller took this photo. (From the Jim Diller collection)
Carol Koontz Heath sent this photo to The Icon recently. Imagine for a moment that a Sinclair service station is at the corner of College and Main (specifically in the front lawn of the Bluffton Public Library). If you can imagine such a scene in December in the 1950s, this is what you'd see. The Koontz brothers - Joe and Jack - operated the station. This was the Christmas decoration on the top of the station. Gas was, oh, 30 cents a gallon. For more details, see Mary Koontz at the senior citizen center.
Here's a rare steam photo of the Bluffton AU (interlocking) tower. It was located at the Nickel Plate-AC&Y crossing near the County Line Road, just north of Tower Automotive.
The AC&Y Historical Society's archivist Bob Lucas is working on WWII-era NKP-AC&Y interchange records in the AC&YHS's archive. Robert Peacock, society president ask anyone with addition photos or information on the towers contact him at [email protected].
Here's another view of the Buckeye quarry, where swimming was once a Bluffton summer experience. Paul Diller snapped this photo of a young man doing a cannon ball off the medium dive. (There were three diving boards in the quarry.) We're guessing this photo is from the late '50s or early '60s.
Notice the cement ledge and raft. Portions of the ledge still exist. (Jim Diller photo collection)
