The Ohio History Connection recently featured the digitization of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for the Open Access Kent State collection and invited viewers to look for their town's map.

Bluffton's 1910 map shows many familiar locations but also reveals how things have changed in the intervening 111 years. For example, a movie was 5 cents. In the event of a fire, the town hall bell was rung. The map shows which buildings had hot water and heat--and whether that heat came from a stove or furnace. You'll also find pool rooms, a cobbler, harness shops, the Hotel Russell, The Bluffton Cream Separator Company, an electric railroad depot and other vanished entities.

1910 Bluffton Sanborn Fire Insurance Map at Open Access Kent State.