Meet the Bluffton Ohio Historical Society
BlufftonForever.com is now managed by the Bluffton Ohio Historical Society. Please "pardon our dust" as we update this website to include the activities of our members. The 500 articles that Fred Steiner contributed to this archive will remain the foundation of the website.
Let's make history together. Bluffton's past is worth celebrating and preserving. Get involved in your community, connect with your past, and inspire the future.
Become a BOHS member today. Help tell Bluffton's stories!
You are invited to join this vibrant community of enthusiasts who are passionate about sharing Bluffton and its rich history with everyone.
OUR MISSION
To preserve, display and promote artifacts and information relating to the History of the Bluffton, Ohio, area for the education and enjoyment of all.
MEETINGS
BOHS meets at 7:00 p.m. on the 2nd Wednesday of the month on the third floor of Bluffton Town Hall. A one hour business meeting is followed by "show and tell." All are welcome to attend.
Museum in the making.
Established in 2023, Bluffton Ohio Historical Society moves steadily toward achieving its goals.
Current and former Blufftonites are entrusting their Bluffton treasures to us. Various downtown storefronts display some of these artifacts. But many more objects await discovery by the community.
Our collection is expanding! A museum to house and showcase donated items will enable BOHS to develop exhibits telling the story of Bluffton--its people, schools, businesses, local culture, and more. Community interest is growing. Together, we can turn this dream into a reality.
Statement of purpose and goals.
1. To collect and preserve artifacts, objects, publications, photographs, oral history and other documentary materials relating to local history.
2. To provide and promote information to all audiences about the physical and cultural history or Bluffton -- from prehistory to frontier settlement to modern town -- through exhibits, events, educational programs, online materials and print materials based on the Society's collections.
3. To advocate for the preservation of the physical and architectural heritage of Bluffton by collaborating with others on research and identification of local landmarks.
4. To build a membership of individuals, families and organizations, creating an on-going network of interest and support.
5. To establish and maintain finances and appropriate insurance to hold events and operate as a non-profit organization.
6. To create and maintain a museum which will house and exhibit the Society's collections, and which will draw people from within and from outside the town as a social and cultural centerpiece of the town.
Contact Us
Ron Epp, BOHS President, Eppron53@gmail.com
BLUFFTON OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO Box 221, Bluffton OH 45817-0221
Fred Steiner created this website. As a Bluffton lifer, he is a 1968 Bluffton High School alum, spent one year at Bluffton College and graduated from Bowling Green State University with a journalism degree in 1972.
He edited the Bluffton News, from 1978 to 2009 - minus a 5-year stint somewhere inside that era as editorial director of CSS Publishing House, Lima.
Then in 2008 Fred created Bluffton Icon and later Ada Icon, community journalism websites. He sold them in 2021.
In May 2024, Fred bequeathed this website to the Bluffton Ohio Historical Society.
Our most recent 100 visitor locations
Bluffton Forever - the Bluffton HS fight song
Here’s the story about “Bluffton Forever,” the forgotten Bluffton High School fight song. It’s the reason we’ve named our website Bluffton Forever.
The 11936-37 high school year book included the words to the school fight song, (the book called it the pep song), which follow below.
It is not known, however, when Bluffton students adopted “Bluffton Forever,” but 1936-37 is the earliest year that we’ve found lyrics.
In 1953, BHS students loved the song so much, they dedicated a full page with lyrics and music in the high school yearbook, the “Buccaneer.”
The initials RDJ, found at the bottom of the of the sheet music stand for Rodney Jennings, a graduate who excelled in music in his professional career.
During the 1950s and into the 1960s “Bluffton Forever” was sung every time the Bluffton football team scored a touchdown.
The song became a call to victory and was used to rally students at pep rallies before high school football and basketball games. The song continued its popularity with students well into the mid-1960s.
Harry Blausey, an Ohio State University graduate, became the Bluffton High School instrumental teacher and band director in 1964. As an OSU student, he played cymbals in the OSU marching band. He faded out the familiar Bluffton Forever replacing it with “Across the Field,” which was the OSU fight song.
Today the BHS band continues to play its own rendition of the OSU song, however it contains slight differences to the OSU version. And, today, “Bluffton Forever” is becoming part of forgotten Bluffton.
Bluffton forever, we will sing to you;
We’ll defend our standards in what ere’ we do, rah, rah, rah!
Hail, hail, the gang’s all here, singing with our might
We’ll stick together for the red and the white.