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By Paula Scott

In an online vote that drew 26 opinions, a new group planning to create a Bluffton museum selected the name Bluffton Ohio Historical Society (BOHS). The results were presented and established by vote of those present at an April 12 meeting.

The fledgling group has regular meetings at 7:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month on the third floor of Bluffton Town Hall.

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Nah. Well, maybe.

We’ve collected several local stories of buried coins plus the discovery of coins older than your great-great grandmother. The following stories reveal some of the loose change that could be waiting discovery, plus a copy stories of rare finds right in our back yard.

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By Kaye Phillips
Swiss Community Historical Society member

Spring brings back thoughts of playing in my grandparent’s barn. We lived beside my grandparents, so I had full access to explore daily. Kittens in the hay mow. Rabbits in the pens. Two steers that loved to be fed sugar cubes. Across the way were the sows and piglets. There was also a brooder house for chicks. The chicken coop was close to the barn and full of activity. Endless hours were spent enjoying the small farm.

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

The following story from the March 7, 1895, Bluffton News, reports on a most unusual response in Beaver Dam (Beaverdam), which resulted from this vote. It is posted word by word.

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Twelve or thirteen, no one knows for certain

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

How many saloons existed in Bluffton in the 1890s? No one is really certain. There may have been 12 or 13... and they moved around and changed hands often.

Piecing together what we know about many of these establishments the map provides a picture of saloon locations in the 1890s.

Consider today that nearly 40 businesses exist between the town hall and the public library, including Vine and Cherry streets. Imagine in a dozen of those as saloons. How many offered 100 proof drinks and how many were for men only?

One of those saloons, The Monarch Billiard Saloon, posted this advertisement in a July 1893 issue of the Bluffton News.

"Take notice – Having just added to my former large stock, some of the best brands of fine liquors and wines I am now prepared to offer for sale such as: • 8-year-old Overholt rye

• 12-year-old Crow

• 7-year-old Gugenheimer rye

• 10-year-old Kentucky Club

• 6-year-old Crystal Rock

• 8-year-old Hancock Club

CONTINUES

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Nitroglycerin accidents causing deaths in the 1890s

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Recently this column revealed that DDT was poured into Riley Creek for nearly 20 years.

An earlier chemical, dangerous for a different reason, killed many persons working on oil rigs in the Bluffton area in the 1890s and 1900s. While the oil boom brought prosperity to Bluffton, it also brought bad news in an extremely dangerous chemical called nitroglycerin. 

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