By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Can you guess the number of horses in Richland Township and Bluffton 128 years ago? Try 683. That’s nearly 1 horse for every 5 persons here.

That interesting statistic is one of several uncovered in an assessment of Richland Township and the Village of Bluffton in 1895.

Most of the details relate to agriculture, simply because our American society was agriculturally based at this time.

The Bluffton News reported the assessor’s 1985 finding. We’ve posted these directly from the News story, that follows:

Assessor J.W. Steiner made his report to the county auditor last Friday, after having put in 31 days in gathering the usual statistics and data for the township and corporation. 

CONTINUES

We have  more interesting figures, which Mr. Steiner has kindly furnished us:

Live stock

Animals        Number     Value

Horses..........683...........$21,599

Cattle............989...........$11,265

Mules................1.................$25

Sheep...........728...............$828

Hogs..........1,545............$4,145

Other property

Bicycles and carriages - $2,880

Miscellaneous - $6,830

Merchandise - $32,600

Money - $11,545

Credits - $80,595

Total valuation - $177,115

Of the total valuation Bluffton corporation is credited with $66,400 and the township outside with $110,715.

Click HERE to view nearly a dozen horse photos from the 1890s in Bluffton.