If you can find Stratton's Recreation Hall you might be able to bowl a game or two. This advertisement from the 1942 Bluffton College Ista says you can "tally in our alley."
Here's how to find the recreation hall. Look for the steps leading to a basement next to the Shannon Theatre on Main Street. Today it is the office for the United Auto Works (UAW) union, involving employees at Tower Automotive.
Niswander, Amstutz, Sprunger, Habeggar, Gerber, Ramseyer, Diller, Steiner and Bixel are among the familiar Bluffton and Pandora area last names in this photo. It's the Bluffton College girl's glee club taken from the 1926 college yearbook, the Ista.93
You don't need to be ancient to recognize this building. But, you do have to be nearly 35 (at the youngest) to recognize it.
This is the 1911 Bluffton High School building. This photograph was taken before the current "old section of the high school" was even in the dream stage.
Where was it? Stand at the St. John's United Church of Christ corner of College Avenue and Jackson Street and gaze toward the current high school.
It was spring in the early 1950s when this aerial photo of new homes on West Kibler Street was taken. Riley Creek overflowed its banks, washing was on the line to dry and no vehicles were on the street. The Motter farm extended just to the edge of the curve in street. Several homes now located here were yet to be constructed. An alley acutally exists and appears to be used.
