Milt Sprunger graduated from Bluffton College in 1920 and returned to Bluffton during his retirement. During his college years, he became very familiar with Main Street businesses and characters, and experienced the 1916 presidential election as a Blufftonite. Here is his election account, taken from "A Good Place to Miss: Bluffton Stories 1900-1975."
Election of 1916
I was a freshman at Bluffton College in the fall of 1916. The two presidential candidates were Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, and Charles Evan Hughes, Republican.
Wilson was the incumbent and both candidates repeatedly assured voters that each would keep American out of the conflict raging across Europe at the time. In reality both candidates were so similar that some dubbed Hughes as “Woodrow Wilson in whiskers.”
Although I wasn’t old enough to vote, some of my classmates and I, with the help of Professor G.A. “Dad” Lehman formed a Republican club on campus. The other members included Vernon and Harry Ramseyer, Wilmer Shelly, Delbert Welty, who was actually a “Bull Moose” from California, myself and three other freshmen.
The other freshmen included Milton Tschantz, Leo Welty, and Clyde Tschantz. We shared two upstairs rooms on East Kibler Street at the home of D.W. Bixler. Mrs. Bixler, Dora, was a sister to Clyde Tschantz.
Now remember, this was way before radio, but Bluffton residents were just as interested in presidential elections in 1916 as they are today.
Let me explain how we spent election night. An election night center was set up in the second floor of the town hall.
Someone had hooked up a telegraph receiver and the results were posted on a large blackboard as they came in. During the evening, interested voters stopped in for the latest results. Dr. J.J. Sutter, who started the sanitarium, and who was mayor of Bluffton ton at the time, served as master of ceremonies. He was a Democrat.
I don’t recall who operated the telegraph, but as results came in first from the East Coast and then from the Midwest, Dr. Sutter would read them aloud and then post them on the blackboard.
At first, Hughes took the lead, and as you might imagine, members of our campus Republican club were very happy. Sometime around midnight, with Hughes in the lead, the telegraph was turned off and everyone went home thinking the Republicans took over the White House.
The next morning the country still thought Hughes had won. I remember reading the morning Lima newspaper with its headline: Sweeping Victory for Hughes.
Developments on Wednesday changed things. Results from western states, particularly California, were finally counted and it appeared that Wilson took the lead. With the west heavily Democratic, by Wednesday evening, the tide had turned and it starting to look like a Wilson victory.
Although the telegraph was dismantled at the town hall, some people stopped by the Lake Erie and Western Railway depot on Railroad Street for the latest news. You see, the depot also had a telegraph office.
Eventually Thursday morning rolled around. Election results were still not resolved. I walked uptown to see if I could learn the latest election update. When I turned the corner from Franklin onto Main I heard what could best is described as a blood-curdling yell.
Near the Cherry and Main Street intersection stood Reuben “Big” Steiner. As his name described him, he was a large man. He was also a Democrat. He had just heard the news from perhaps a telephone call from Democrat headquarters in Lima that California when for Wilson and thus, the 1916 president election was finally decided. It was a victory for the Democrats.
Icon note: Wilson won the Bluffton vote 280 to 153. Wilso also won the Richland Township vote 181 to 71.
Take a walk down Main Street Bluffton in 1916 with Milt Sprunger
I know most of the shop owners on Main Street. That’s because I sell ads for The Witmarsum, the Bluffton College campus newspaper. This is the first year of the campus newspaper.
First, let me tell you what you’ll need to know about on Main Street. You’ll discover that Main Street has its original bricks. (Any bricks uncovered during street repair now are the second set of bricks that were laid in the late 1920s.)
There’s an interurban rail track down the center of the street used by the Western Ohio Railway. It was installed in 1906. The interurban carries freight and passengers.
See all those wires above the street? Some of those are for the electric trolley. You’ll also notice one thing missing from Main Street. There are no stoplights. (They were added in 1927.)
You’ll also see a very lively Main Street. There are several grocery stores, two banks, two drug stores, two men’s clothing stores and three hardware stores.
Here’s one of the three hardware’s. It is Fett’s and the owner is Gilbert Fett. Next is Greding’s. At Greding’s notice the Greding name on the entrance. It reads “L.T. Greding.” Following World War I, we called him Lieutenant Greding because of that sign.
The next hardware is really more than a hardware. You might call it a combination store. It is run by two brothers, Harley and Myron Lugibuhl, and stands just south of the Russell Hotel on the west side of Main at the corner of Main and Church.
In it you’ll find all kind of things like sporting goods and gift shop items. (And recall that started in the Russell Hotel in the spring of 1919 consumed the store. I can still hear the popping sounds from paint cans and shotgun shells.)
On the southeast corner of Main and Cherry was Armin Hauenstein’s Drug Store. My college friend, Ray Schryer, who eventually became principal of Bluffton High School, worked there while in college.
During this time I was working at the other Hauenstein drug store, known as Sidney’s Drug Shop. Ray once joked to me that “I work at an apothecary; you work at a drug store.”
Of course, you had to know the Hauensteins to understand this joke. Let me try to explain: At Hauenstein’s there was Edgar and his father, Andrew, wearing impeccable white jackets. They also had those stunning globes of colored water in their show windows.
If you entered Edgar’s drug store to have a prescription filled you might sit down and wait in a very fancy ice cream chair. Your drink could be a sarsaparilla or Green River.
This translated to Andrew Hauenstein and Son’s idea of what a drug store was meant to be. But Sidney’s was much more fun. If you entered Sidney’s drug store you’d likely listen to Sidney talk about music and probably the University of Michigan.
At Sidney’s you’d buy Asafetida, Rexall’s Beef, mustard plasters, Iron and Wine, Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, Ansco cameras, stationery and baseball bats.
Some of the other downtown shops include Cal Geiger’s Noah’s Ark and “Pod” Worthington’s Star Theater, where they show silent movies. There’s also Sam Bixel’s Dry Goods and Notion Store, Charles Hankish’s confectionery, Will Triplett’s Photo Studio, Hi Althaus and Walter Gratz’s Economy store and Al Baumgartner and Lysle, his son, who own another men’s clothing store.
Main Street also has Irwin Long’s restaurant and doctor offices for Dr. Steiner, Soash and Sutter. Theodore G. Shied has a plumbing store somewhere in the mix.
The north end of the business district ends at the two garages directly north of the town hall. Beyond those garages are houses. The south end of the Main Street business district actually ends at Franklin Street. South of Franklin are residential houses. There’s no Post Office. (It was built in 1940.) T
he high school, built in 1911, is on the corner of Jackson and College. (The portion of the high school with the old gymnasium wasn’t added until the early 1930s.) There’s also a sanitarium is at the corner of Main and College.
