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Hospital centennial float

Posted by Fred Steiner on April 4, 2013 - 8:38am

Here's the Bluffton Community Hospital float during the 1961 Bluffton centennial.  We invite Icon viewers to identify the people on the float.

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Historical Bluffton
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238,855 miles from the moon to Bluffton

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 27, 2013 - 12:23pm

Here's a photo from the 1961 Bluffton Centennial "children's parade." Leland Gerber took the photo. Any idea on who the astronaut behind the shades, beard and football helmet might be? We are trying to figure out how this float entry is propelled. Is it a garden tractor?

Icon viewers thoughts are welcome.

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100 years ago this weekend in Bluffton

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 24, 2013 - 3:32pm

Here's a photo of the 1913 Bluffton flood, which occurred between March 23 and 27, 1913. The flood was much wider than the Riley, as many streams across Ohio flooded.

The Feb. 28, 2011, flood was devastating, but imagine cleaning up after the 1913 flood. Here's a photo of that flood taken on Cherry Street. The building on the very far left houses the Village Cut 'n' Curl today.

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Historical Bluffton
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America is a Hankish ice cream cone

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 19, 2013 - 12:30pm

"American is a Hankish Ice Cream Cone." To an eariler Bluffton generation, that statement rings true. The Icon discovered this photo in its archives. Our best guess is that it's a 1976 bicentennial parade.

Perhaps it was photographed from the town hall looking across at what is now Smith's Realty. 

Any ideas on the ID of the driver of the float, or any of the kids on the curb are welcome. If the photo was taken in 1976, some of the youth might be in their 40s.

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Central Mennonite College

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 13, 2013 - 9:54am

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Bluffton University, once called Bluffton College, was orginally called Central Mennonite College. Here is a photograph of the first-ever building on the campus. It's College Hall, which still exists today. 

Several things stand out in this photo:

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Historical Bluffton
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Remember the Cherry Street bridge?

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 4, 2013 - 1:47pm

This scene may look familar to many Icon viewers. It's the "old" bridge over Riley Creek on Cherry Street. The bridge was replaced in recent years with a two-lane bridge that is built above the flood plain. This view looks east on Cherry. The Farmers' Grain building is still standing.

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Historical Bluffton
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