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Historical Bluffton

1906 - No spitting on the sidewalk

2023: Automobiles replace electric railroad

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Some photos are worth one-thousand words. This photo (on top) could rival War and Peace, containing slightly north of one-half million.

We’ll save viewers lots of time by offering highlights.

• Year: 1906

• Event: Bricking Bluffton’s Main Street for the first time

• Location: Looking south on Main

• Specifically: CNB on right side, Edward Jones on left

August 1947: A sound foreign to Bluffton’s ears

The first-ever diesel locomotive passed through town on a test run

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Remember seeing your first-ever electric-driven vehicle in Bluffton? Compare that to the following image: It passed through Bluffton in an unusual color scheme (reddish-orange) blasting a very foreign sound (a “hoarse” whistle).

How did you spend your summer vacation?

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

If you lived in Bluffton during the summer of 1947–76 vacations ago–chances are your vacation plans were announced on the front page of The Bluffton News.

And, if you don’t believe this, simply scroll to the bottom of the feature and see for yourself. You will discover the vacation plans of over 50 Bluffton families.

Bluffton residents brush with history c. 1940s

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

In November 1945 Bluffton resident Betty Steinman experienced a brush with history like no other person in Bluffton.

It is one of several interesting brushes with history that Bluffton residents reported in The Bluffton News. Some of those accounts follow Betty’s. The accounts in this feature are from the mid-1940s. 

Looking for Benroth’s Saloon or the Modern Suit and Shirt Co.?

Sorry to say, they are no longer in business… but the building housing them still exists

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Here’s a familiar Bluffton Main Street business block of three stores in an undated late-1880, early 1890-era photo. Check several photo enlargements of this scene at the bottom of this feature.

Dillinger plays a minor role in robbery retelling

By Paula Scott

Why should we retell the story of the 1933 robbery of the Citizens National Bank by the John Dillinger gang? Does it glorify a vicious criminal? That certainly wasn’t the effect of the Saturday, August 12 observation of Bluffton History Day that drew some 180 people to the corner of Main and Church streets.

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