Main Street Bluffton in the summer of 1959 looked like this. On the west side of Main Street to Church Street is C.F. Niswander and Son farm implements, Urich's IGA, the Charles Co., Crow's 5 and 10, and Citizens National Bank.
On the east side is the Carma Theater, The Horseshoe Grill and Niswander's Newstand.
Here's another post card photo of Main Street probably around 1906. It was no doubt taken the same day as the previous photo. The photographer simply moved north a few hundred feet.
In the window of the "restaurant" (today Forever in Stitches), a sign reads "Soda." The fronts of these stores have changed very little since this photo was taken.
We recently showed you the west side of Main Street at the turn of an earlier century. Now we show you the east side from the same era. In this view, the photographer was standing in front of what today is Citizens National Bank, looking toward the town hall.
There are times when small packages offer huge surprises. This photo represents one of those times. The original photo is a snapshot measuring 2 by 3 inches. It is taken from a family album, but carries no explanation.
When enlarged the photo reveals much. Of course, you recognized the view is Main Street Bluffton taken from what today would be in front of Common Grounds coffee shop looking north. Judging the Ford Model T on the left, which appears to resemble a 1915 model, that puts this photo in the mid-1910s.
Here's a rare black and white photo of the last-ever steam locomotive to pass through Bluffton. It was in the mid-1980s.
The Lima-built NKP Berkshire locomotive was pulling a steam fan excersion train from Muncie, Ind., to Bellevue. The trackage through Bluffton since has been downgraded by Norfolk Southern. Steam locomotives are too heavy to risk travel on the local rails.
