Here's an unusual snapshot taken in Bluffton. The people in the photo are ready to board the Western Ohio Railway (electric interurban) on Main Street. On the back of the photo is written: "Marie Ringleman taking a ride on the interurban in Bluffton, Ohio about 1922 or so."
Richard Jordan sent photo to the Icon with a note saying that he believes the handwriting on the back belongs to Austin Lehmann, whose wife was Helen Basinger Lehmann; she grew up at 536 S. Main St., sister of Ethel Basinger, who worked in Jordan's insurance agency.
You are looking at the front and back side of a card from the Stratton Garage, once located on Elm Street in Bluffton. The garage sold Auburns and Oakland automobiles.
In case you don't know how to operate a vehicle, directions are on the backside. (From Fred Steiner collection)
This is Church Street, Bluffton, but not the street of today. Of the three structures in this post card photo only one exists today. On the left is the First Mennonite Church. In the center is the Victorian Bluffton school house. On the right is the original Methodist church. Notice that the street is neither bricked nor paved. And, if you look closely, there appears to be a man standing in front of the school house.
Elbert Dubenion, Bluffton College football standout, was featured on this football bubble gum trading card in the early 1960s. The flip side reads:
ELBERT
DUBENION
BUFFALO BILLS
FLANKER BACK-END
HT: 6:00, WT: 195
AGE: 26; YEARS PRO: 3
COLLEGE: BLUFFTON
Team mates rate him fastest man in football. Elbert was voted Bills' most valuable offensive player. He is a two-way threat as rusher and pass receiver. (Fred Steiner collection)
It's the Bluffton Post Office. But, look closely. How many things in this photo can you see that have changed since the photo was taken in the 1940s? Check out Main Street. It's brick. Look at the trees on the lawn. Closely examine the sidewalk widths. The modern ramp is not there, nor is the zip code above the doorway, or the white house behind the post office or the building to the north. One more thing: look closely at the post office doors. They have been replaced. We almost forgot. The lawn slants toward the sidewalk; there's no wall there.
This photo gem comes to The Icon from The Allen County Museum railroad photo collection. This photo was not taken in Bluffton, but it shows a Lake Erie and Western locomotive and crew in front of the yard offices in Rankin, Ill.
The photo was taken in 1909. The Lake Erie and Western (later Nickel Plate Road and now Norfork Southern) goes through Bluffton. No doubt locomotive 5520 passed through town often.
