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Did you visit the Schumacher Homestead at Fall Festival? Big changes are coming to the Swiss Community Historical Society's Heritage Center project.

By Kaye Phillips and Seth Bixel

This will be a big week at the SCHS Heritage Center construction site. The Bixel/Basinger Barn will start to take shape on the foundation (PHOTO of progress). The sky crane will return. The sides are going to go back up. This barn was on Phillips Road in our Swiss Settlement for 173 years. Tomorrow starts the next 173 years plus, at the Schumacher Homestead on Bixel Road. Bluffton, Ohio.

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Bill Hahn, member of the BHS class of 1919 held the patent

By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

It’s a little-known fact that Bluffton, Ohio, is the home of the patented “ashless cigar.” Why there’s no sign at the edge of town stating this fact is something I’ve never quite figured out. Perhaps it’s time to do something about it. So, here’s me doing something.

This cigar information is a long-held secret in my family, who happens to hold the patent. 

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Bet you didn’t know that a “strange illuminated object” was sighted in rural Bluffton. It occurred one month after a “flying disc” was recovered from a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, home of one of the most well-known extraterrestrial area  in the United States.

One can only imagine how history might have struck us, had the object crashed in rural Bluffton – no matter what might have been discovered in such a wreck. 

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

This Bluffton High School team wasn’t even called the “Pirates,” yet 100 seasons ago, it set the standard for a winning football tradition in our community.

The 1923 red and white Bluffton team, playing before most school athletic leagues were formed, won eight games and lost only one. Even its loss, by a close 3 to 9 score, was impressive.

Here’s the story of this Bluffton team:

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

Imagine teaching school with a classroom with five sets of twins.

Beyond all the other issues of teaching, 110 school years ago, that was the situation at the Hilty country school west of Bluffton on Columbus Grove Road. Ed Hilty was the teacher of the 10 children plus the remaining students covering grades 1 to 8.

Like all one-room schools in the Bluffton Swiss Settlement, this school had three names.

First is had a township identification, in this case, District No. 3.

Second it had a tree name, in this case, Silver Maple school.

Third, it had a Swiss surname, based on several factors including the original Swiss land owner, in this case, a Hilty family.

For the rest of this story, names of the twins and more photos from the Hilty school click HERE.

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

The St. John's United Church of Christ, at the corner of Jackson and College, has a baptismal font featuring Bluffton artist Peter Klassen's work. There are six ceramic pieces created by the artist in the 1930s.

The images feature marriage, Christmas, baptism, family, Jesus and the dove of peace.

Klassen became a member of the Bluffton College faculty at the invitation of President S.K. Mosiman in 1924 and remained on the faculty until 1958. Visitors to the campus can see more than 30 works created by Klassen and by his students in bronze, wood, and marble. 

Professor Klassen was born in Kronsgarten, Ukraine, on April 8, 1888. In 1923 the Klassen’s arrived in Canada from Russia.

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