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Bluffton College campus 1949

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 29, 2021 - 11:17am

Here's a look at the Bluffton College campus from the air in 1949. We know the year because Founders Hall is under construction. It's on the top of the photo just to the right of center.

What else is in this photo? 

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Screaming steam through Bluffton

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 22, 2021 - 11:06am

Paul Diller snapped this photo and then very quickly stepped aside as this giant Lima-built Berkshire steam locomotive barrelled toward him at about 65 miles per hour.

We can only guess what the engineer and fireman thought as they approached a photographer, standing in the middle of the rails.

Coming from Bellevue, it was westbound to Lima, and onto Muncie, Indiana, and headed perhaps as far west at St. Louis.

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You've never seen this view of the Buckeye

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 15, 2021 - 4:51pm

Jim Diller shares this late 1930s-era photo of the Buckeye, taken by his father, Paul.

From the Main Street end, here's the famous wooden floating swimming pool. Icon viewer comments are welcome.

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West College Avenue bridge ribbon cutting?

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 8, 2021 - 11:44am

Here’s a Bluffton ribbon-cutting photo without any information, but we are working on a theory and we are checking it out with our esteemed list of Bluffton history fact-checkers, so stay tuned.

Jim Diller provided this photo, taken by his father, Paul Diller.

Our guess is this is 1960, based on the yellow-orange license plate on a Chevy station wagon. The tan and white car is a 1959 Pontiac.

The persons we’ve identified from left are William “Kaiser” Gaiffe, Clayton Bixel, _____, _____, Wilbur Amstutz (he was mayor from 1960-65), ___, ___, ___.

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Bluffton's Woodcock power plant

Posted by Fred Steiner on March 1, 2021 - 10:19am

Jim Diller shared this photo of Bluffton's Woodcock power plant with the Icon. It was originally a color slide taken by his father, Paul.

For viewers who may be unaware, the site of John's Body Shop on Lake Street was once a coal-fired power plant. It was razed in the 1980s.

The photographer captured the plant and the trees in a perfect reflection in the National Quarry on a summer afternoon.

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A Bluffton parade we never watched

Posted by Fred Steiner on February 22, 2021 - 12:06pm

Liz Gordon-Hancock shares this photo with Icon viewers. She found it ebay.

If you think Bluffton parades are well attended today, look at this photo showing an early 1900s parade. The crowd is four people deep on one side and even more crowded on the other side.

We don’t k­­now the purpose or exact year of this parade, however here are some observations.

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