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.
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.
