Bluffton Presbyterian Church is celebrating its 175th anniversary (1849-2024) this year.
By Diane Winebar Have you noticed the cornerstone to the left of the front steps of the Presbyterian church building? What happened to the name "The Brice Presbyterian Church"? In 1887, fundraising efforts to construct the present church building were falling short. The wife of one of the church’s early supply pastors, the Rev. W. K. Brice, assured the congregation that her son, soon-to-be U.S. senator Calvin S. Brice, would fund the completion as a memorial to his late father. With a large donation expected, the church ordered and laid a cornerstone engraved with the Brice name. But it turns out that all the Brice money that is in this building is the $10.00 Mrs. Brice herself contributed. ▶︎
PHOTOS from Travis family archive: LEFT) Betsey Travis Angus and Phyllis Diller. RIGHT) Eloise and Boyd Travis with Phyllis Diller.
Story provided by Rev. Tom Castlen, former Bluffton Presbyterian Church minister
Church celebrates 175 Years, provides anecdote from the 1940s
After World War II, there was a scramble to call pastors. Bluffton Presbyterian had not had a pastor during the war and they wanted to call Ernest Bigelow who was graduating from Yale Divinity School.
Headline: Ohio Church Has $2,000 Grow Into $10,000 By Following Parable of the Talents
By Paula Pyzik Scott
Bluffton Presbyterian Church is celebrating its 175th anniversary in 2024. Located at Cherry and Main streets and providing what is effectively the village’s town square, the church is a prominent landmark and institution in Bluffton.
It’s still a bit of a surprise to learn that the church once graced the front page of the New York Times, a publication that currently has over 10 million subscribers.
You turn on the tap and the water flows all day, every day. Is there a fire? You call 911 and the Bluffton Fire Department comes in mere minutes armed with high tech trucks and immense water power.
Interurban train/trolley service on Bluffton's Main Street may seem like a chapter of forgotten Bluffton, but on Monday, August 12, Bluffton Council passed around a hefty chunk of that rail line. This summer, extreme heat buckled a portion of rail that still lies under Main St. Last week, crews excavated and removed the twisted rail and sliced off a hefty piece for display.
For more information on the Western Ohio Railway, see the following:
