Editing Bluffton, Indiana (section)

===Industrial growth===
In 1848, the idea of a 10-mile planked road from Bluffton to [[Fort Wayne, Indiana|Fort Wayne]] gained popularity throughout the city. In 1849 a ten-mile stretch of the plank road was constructed by city locals. From 1852 to 1856 the road was planked before being disused – replaced by a gravel road.

As early as the 1840s and 1850s there were plans made for [[railroads]]. However, none of them had been successful. In 1852 the first railroad known as the [[List of Indiana railroads|Fort Wayne, Cincinnati Louisville Railroad]] was surveyed but it was delayed due to the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. From 1867 - 1868 the railroad began construction through Bluffton and by 1869 it was completed. The advent of the railroad brought great prosperity to Bluffton and would help ditch the numerous swamps that brought risks such as [[malaria]] and flooding.

In the 1890s the construction of the iconic 5 story [[Richardsonian Romanesque]] style [[sandstone]] courthouse was completed, ushering in a new era for Bluffton and Wells County. Bluffton was included in the corporate name of the short-lived [[Cincinnati, Bluffton and Chicago Railroad]], founded in 1903. The railroad's Bluffton bridge collapsed on May 22, 1913, and the struggling carrier went out of business shortly thereafter.<ref name="Martin and Webb">{{cite book |title=Images of America: Huntington |last=Martin |first=Todd and Webb, Jeffrey |year=2014 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, S.C. |pages=44–45 }}</ref>