It was the summer of 1961
It’s 1961 on Main Street – but those Model T’s give a feeling of the 1920s.
This photograph was taken during the 1961 Bluffton centennial. The photo shows a parade of antique vehicles held during a one-week August celebration that includes many additional parades, exhibits, pageants, hobby shows and other events that celebrated the village’s 100th year in existence.
This photo was taken on the roof of a building no longer standing. The building housed several businesses including the Iron Lantern Restaurant, The Charles Company and later Millager’s Pharmacy.
On closer examination of the left side (west side of the street) you can see the Citizens National Bank clock, Crow’s 5 and 10 store neon sign and Luxaire air conditioning sign – we aren’t certain of the business name.
On the right side of
the street you can see: • tip of Niswander’s Newsstand (today’s Root’s by Stratton’s),
• Basinger’s Meat Market (Edward Jones),
• JDI Insurance (Webb Insurance),
• Steiner and Huser Men’s Clothing (The Food Store),
• and Hauenstein’s Pharmacy (Twisted Whisk Café)
Then, past the Presbyterian Church law is a large billboard announcing “Built in Gas Range”
• Edelweiss Restaurant (Ellerbrock Soft Tissue)
• Mumma Appliance (RealLiving Real Estate)
We’ll stop there, however some of the businesses from that point to the town hall include Geiger and Diller men’s clothing, Fett Hardware, B & B Bar, Luginbuhl’s Newsstand and Ingalls’ Restaurant.
Back to the parade: One interesting element of the cars parked along the street is that it’s easy to think that those vehicles are part of the antique car show. However, those are actually vehicles driven by parade-watchers. They are not part of the car show.
