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Monday, 27 October 2008 |
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 Staff photo/Angela Weaver
Members of Wayne Street United Methodist Church Sunday morning look over items found in a time capsule that was recently opened. Below are some of the documents found within the time capsule.
By ANGELA WEAVER
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — Members of Wayne Street United Methodist Church uncovered almost 100 years of history when they opened the time capsule that was placed behind the cornerstone in the congregation’s old church.
When the old church was built in 1911, the congregation placed a small, tin container behind the cornerstone. Bill Huber and Tim Dicke, co-chairs of the cornerstone and time capsule committee which is a sub-committee of the building committee, opened the time capsule Thursday and presented the capsule’s contents to the congregation after their Sunday service at Memorial High School.
Huber encouraged the congregation to look at the items in the capsule but not to touch them because of the deterioration it would cause.
“The top came loose, “ Huber said of the capsule as he addressed the congregation in McBroom gym.
“It was not sealed all the way and the documents were subjected to time and weather. We opened and inventoried the items on Thursday.”
Some of the items included in the capsule were a St. Marys Graphic and Evening Leader from 1911.
“They’re the only ones in existence because of the flood,” Huber said.
Huber and Dicke asked Becky Macwhinney, director of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum and a member of the Ohio Historical Society, to help them with the restoration process when they opened the capsule.
She said the tin box let in air, humidity and lighting, which led to some deterioration on the items, but the papers were made with cloth so they were in a little better condition.
“There are also deeds,” Macwhinney said. “The original deeds from this land that date back to 1841 and 1842. There are two deeds from 1911, one from Auglaize County and one from Mercer County.”
The capsule also held a hymnal carried by the pastor’s wife, a postcard with a picture of the church on it, two wheat pennies from 1909, the first year they were issued, a registry of the congregation and a bible carried by John Newton Johnson, a Civil War soldier who carried it with him during the war.
“I did the genealogy on him, hoping to find a descendent living here today,” Huber said.
“He had one daughter, and his daughter and her husband never had children.”
Huber also started a basket to take donations to start the preservation process for the items, but he didn’t know how much it would cost or where the items would be held. He said the papers would be microfilmed, as well.
The old church was demolished earlier this year and the new Wayne Street United Methodist Church is scheduled to be completed in 2009. To coincide with the new building, church members said they want to have a new time capsule.
The new church also will have a cornerstone, but Huber said the time capsule will be in a vault behind the cornerstone.
“We won’t seal it right away,” he said.
Huber said the church will hold a ceremony when they add the capsule but did not know when it will be.
The new box will be about four-times the size of the old one and Dicke said it will have a silicon sealant and there will be chemical packets inside to absorb the oxygen. Macwhinney added that the documents will also be sprayed with a deacidification spray.
Huber said the most exciting item to him from the capsule was the papers because they are the only ones.
“This is a bit of history,” Huber said. “It gives us an idea of the history of our church. It’s a historical find.” |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 31 October 2008 )
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