Three Bluffton classics: Dean Sommers on the left, Dean Niswander on the right, standing in front of a classic Bluffton vehicle. We hope that an Icon viewer can provide a proper explanation and year to this photo taken by Paul Diller. Jim Diller provided The Icon with the photo.
The location: the Little Riley, just south of Columbus Grove Road.
The event: ice skating in the winter.
The skaters: Dr. B.W. Travis (left) and Ropp Triplett (right)
If we could get a better view of the cars parked along Grove Road we could nail down a year. Jim Diller provided this photo taken by his father, Paul Diller.
Our guess on the year: late 1950s. How many Icon viewers fell in the ice at this spot?
Do you know this location in Bluffton? It's at the corner of Elm and Lawn. The photo was taken circa 1886. In the photo are, from left, Bertha Althaus and her parents, Barbara Amstutz Althaus and Rudolf Althaus. Bertha is the grandmother of Fred Steiner, of The Icon. Two of the pine trees in the front yard stand today on that property.
Here are five Bluffton residents from the 1890s. The two identified are Bertha Althaus (front left) and her brother, Werner Althaus. The other three girls are friends of Bertha.
The photo is actually a publicity shot for Bertha's milliner business. She created fancy women's hats popular during the time this photo was taken. The women's hats in the photo were created by Bertha.
Werner was a professional musician who toured with Al G. Fields Minstrels, a forerunner of Vaudeville.
While most of the students in this photo are not identified, several bits of information reveal some of what may be going on in the photo. This is a post card photo taken in front of College Hall. The young woman in the center is Pearl Bogart (later Pearl Bogart Mann). She became a life-long member of the Bluffton faculty.
It doesn't seem like 50 years ago...but it it. Here's a view of the 1961 Bluffton Centennial parade. Click on the image to enlarge and you may even find yourself in this photo,
