You’ve viewed at the Bluffton High School crest, but did you ever wonder how it came into existence?

Here’s the answer.

In the 1964-65 school year Beaverdam’s school district was annexed into the Bluffton school district.

School crests became popular in the mid-1960s, and the development of a Bluffton High School crest made sense, especially as a way to integrate the two school systems.

During the 1965-66 school year, a committee of students and faculty came together to decide on the crest’s appearance. The result is a coat of arms with a Pirate’s head on the top and the wording Bluffton HS on the bottom.

Inside the shield are four images.
• The top left image is a mill on Riley Creek, a historical reference to the village of Bluffton. The mill image was part of the Bluffton 1961 centennial logo, and was familiar in Bluffton during the 1960s.
• On the top right are symbols for drama and music.
• On the bottom left is a football goal post and track shoes, representing athletics.
• On the bottom right is a beaver’s dam, representing the village of Beaverdam.

Accompanying this story is a gold copy of the crest, which is on the cover of the 1966 Bluffton HS yearbook. It was the first time the crest appear in the yearbook.

Also with this story is a cloth red and white crest from the late 1960s. That crest does not include the pirate’s head.

And, posted is the 1961 Bluffton centennial logo, with the mill image.

Today, the origins of the BHS crest are part of forgotten Bluffton.