You are here

Historical Bluffton

1949 Bluffton beard contest

Here are two photos of Bluffton men who entered a July 4, 1949, beard contest, which was part of a ‘49er gold rush night rodeo in Bluffton.

Front row from left, Joe Swank, Ed Rice, Lazarus “Santa Claus” Basinger, Dave Risser, Hiram Huser and Wilford Geiger.

Second row from left, Walter Gratz, Everett “Suty” Suttermeister, John Stonehill, Bill Augsburger, Robert Dillman, William “Kaiser” Gaiffe and Truxton Hill.

Top row from left, Walter “Red” Stannus, unidentified, Bill Edwards, Howard Stauffer, Harry Bogart, Al Ingalls and Clair Leiber.

Fall of 1969 BHS cross country team

1969 Bluffton High School cross country team, front row from left, Mike Hilty, Bill McKibben, Tim Boehr, James Pannabecker, Larry Diller, Ryan Hobley, Louis Burkholder.

Standing from left, Richard Corbett, coach, Bill Brauen, Charles Montgomery, Allan Birchnaugh, Ricky Lones, Carl Snare, Terry Huber, Larry Huber, Robert McCafferty and Robert Hilty, assistant coach.

Thanks for information from Mike Hilty, the Icon can update more of Bluffton High School’s cross country state meet history.

The Wit staff of 1942-43

It was the 1942-43 school year at Bluffton College. This is the staff of the college newspaper, The Witmarsum. In its 29th year, the paper was published monthly. Names of the staff members are under the photo.

Both 1999 BHS soccer teams advanced to Division II regional play

This feature includes two team photos, both from the fall of 1999. Bluffton High School girls' soccer team, at 18-2-2, advanced to the Division II regional finals.

Bluffton High School boys' soccer team, at 19-2-0, advanced to the Division II regional semi-finals. The boys' team photo is at the bottom of this feature.

1999 Division II regional runner-up BHS girls’ soccer team
Team record: 18-2-2

Front from left, Sarah Unterbrink, Olina Vidarsdottir, Abby Trollinger, Abbey Schaaf, Bekah Trollinger, Anna Bixel, Rebecca Gratz.

Bird's-eye-view a half century past

Here's Bluffton from the air in a photo taken in 1966.

As a reference point, the Bluffton elementary building is near the center of the photo, more closely to 11 o'clock.

Main Street is horozontal midway in the photo.

The Bluffton College old baseball diamond is on the top left corner.

Perhaps the biggest change is that the municipal parking lot behind CVS Pharmacy does not yet exist. And several structures near the bottom of the photo show buildings on Vance Street  no longer standing.

They lived through the 1919 flu epidemic

Here is a photograph of the home economics laboratory at Bluffton College during the 1918-19 school year.

From left, Ruth Parrish, Mamie Stearns, Lelia Roth, Lillie Gratz, Edna Steinman, Marie Ringelman, Elizabeth Boehr, (center), Elrena Tschantz, Helen Schwartzentraub, Viola Welty, Blanch Augsburger, Lillian Lantz, Evelyn Weaver.

Pages