Cornerstone - Time Capsule 2011

When the current First Christian Church building was constructed in 1911, a time-capsule was buried in the cornerstone. We recently discovered a newspaper article from 1911 describing the contents of that time-capsule (scroll to the bottom of this page to read that article).

Here are some photographs from March, 2011, that show the process of cutting this cornerstone out of the building to reveal the time-capsule:

The cornerstone sitting on the altar before opening the time-capsule (the stone on top was just for security :).

Dan Bryant begins to lift off the lid of the metal box that served as the time capsule.

With the lid bent backward, Dan reaches in for the contents of the time-capsule.

The first item to be removed was a Bible. You can see small pieces falling off as it is lifted out -- the paper had deteriorated.

April, Dan, and Nancy Hayner (congregation President) examining the letter, which was made more difficult because all the ink had disappeared!

Dan reflecting on the now opened time capsule, and the strength of the foundation upon which our church was built.

The letter was written on church stationary which included a black & white line drawing of the church (which survived 100 years), but all the other ink -- we're assuming hand-written words -- were gone.

Another view of the Bible shows how fragile the paper and cover had become after 100 years in the cornerstone.

The stationary heading on the 3-page letter -- this was the only ink that survived and could be seen with the naked eye (we may need some CSI help to discover any other ink on this letter!).

Senior Minister Dan Bryant read an appropriate verse from the Bible before the stone was removed. Something about patience :)

The stone had been dislodged, but was very heavy (estimated to weigh several hundred pounds), and required quite a bit of wrestling with crow-bars before it was freed.

Architect Dan Hill and Senior Minister Dan Bryant shoving the stone onto a waiting platform that had been constructed just for this occasion by David and Kevin (also pictured).

Once it was safely on the platform, Dan points to the time-capsule buried within the stone (a small metal box had been placed in a hole that was dug out from the top of the granite stone).

A close-up shot of the time-capsule. Appears to be a copper box surrounding the contents. A Bible appears to be visible in the lower-left corner (and in reasonably good condition). The time-capsule will be opened, and the contents revealed, at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, March 13th, 2011.

The stone was then lifted (shall we say, 'dropped with style' :), onto a hand-cart for wheeling into the building.

One last look at where the cornerstone used to sit. The tentative plan is to create a new time-capsule, place it back in the cornerstone, and have it re-sealed in October, 2011.

The stone was a little more stubborn than expected -- trying to come up with ideas on how to remove it.

A small crowd gathered in the rain on Thursday, March 10th, 2011, to watch the cutting of the cornerstone.

Senior Minister Dan Bryant being interviewed by local media (these were the folks from KMTR).

Despite the weather, the crowd grew -- here, Dan Bryant is reading the newspaper article from 1911.

This was a far as we got on Thursday, March 10th 2011. The stone-cutter will return on Friday, March 11th, with a jack-hammer, to finish the job and reveal the time-capsule.

The time-capsule itself will be opened in front of the congregation on Sunday, March 13th, at 10:45 a.m.

With appropriate ceremonies the corner stone of the new Christian church building, which is in the course of erection on Oak Street near East Eleventh, was laid Sunday afternoon. The exercises, which began at 3 o'clock, were witnessed by several hundred people. The weather was ideal and the program was held in the open air, between the partially completed walls of the structure.

The exercises opened with a song, followed by the invocation by Rev. V. Hebino, of the united Evangelical church. President P. L. Campbell, of the university, then delivered the principal address of the occasion and was followed by Rev. H. S. Wilkinson, of the M. E. church [I assume Methodist Episcopal, now First United Methodist], representing the ministerial union, Morris J. Durye, representing the Commercial club, and Rev. A. F. Sanderson, acting president of the Eugene bible university.

Then came the ceremony of placing the stone and enclosing the iron box inside, which was performed by Hon. T. G. Hendricks, president of the First National Bank and a trustee of the church. Inside the box in the stone were placed the following:

The history of the church, the date of the erection of the two other buildings that have been erected by the church in Eugene; names of the members of the official board of the church, names of the building committee, name of the architect, names of the contractors, names of the various pastors, who have served the church since its organization, and a copy of the American revised Bible. (then the list of pastors is given)

[End of newspaper article]

Campbell is Prince Lucien Campbell and a significant figure in UO's history, also was the son of Alexander Campbell's niece [Alexander Campbell was a co-founder of the Disciples of Christ denomination]. T. G. Hendricks is the Hendricks of Hendricks park and a significant figure in Eugene history. I think his last living relative was Martha Goodrich, his granddaughter, who had no children and was an active member here. She wrote our centennial history and her portrait is in the Goodrich building (the administration building) of Northwest Christian University.

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