Renovation projects typically bring a little dust, a lot of work, and interesting discoveries among the layers.
What started as a routine renovation of Ellwood City’s Lincoln High school, turned into a remarkable connection to the past.
School Librarian Heidi Feltrop recounted the moment this quest to unveil a cornerstone to find a time capsule from 1925 began. She said in May a biology teacher was boxing up things in her classroom to accommodate the current construction at Lincoln High School and stumbled upon a dictionary that belonged to a teacher in 1930. Feltrop said this sparked a curiosity within her to learn about the teacher this dictionary belonged to.
“I went down a rabbit hole trying to find info about the teacher and doing research when I could,” Feltrop said.
That research helped her discover that a cornerstone was laid in Lincoln High School in 1925, and the Nov 30 front page of the Ellwood City Ledger said that Vice President of the school board at that time, Samuel Wilkinson, put several items inside the cornerstone.
“I thought … oh my gosh they put a time capsule in this cornerstone.”
Feltrop continued to research between classes and testing and decided this possible time capsule was worth truly looking into. She consulted fellow educator, friend, and colleague David Gaibis, who she knew had knowledge of construction along with knowing plenty of folks in and around town who could also help to get to the bottom of this mysterious cornerstone time capsule.
The Work
Feltrop and Gaibis dug in full speed ahead with determination and curiosity. Gaibis reached out to LMI, (Lee Michaels Industries) of New Castle, and they visited Lincoln within two days of being called to take a look at the cornerstone.
“LMI told us they thought they could get out a time capsule if it really was inside,” Feltrop said. “They also told us they would donate their services to make that happen. After all that, I was really excited.”
LMI began the extraction work during the week of September 22. Feltrop explained that above the cornerstone is a “capstone” and when LMI removed that capstone, they thought they’d be able to see a void that would lead to the time capsule, but they could not see it. Despite that, Feltrop was convinced there was a time capsule in that cornerstone, so she wasn’t willing to give up quite that quickly, and neither was the rest of the district’s students, teachers, or administrators who had since become captivated with the possibility of finding a 100 year old piece of history. Feltrop said a gentleman came to scan the cornerstone area with a metal detector. The man explained that the time capsule was more than likely made of copper, so he calibrated his detector so that he would know if he got an accurate signal based on the copper assumption. He got a signal in the upper right-hand corner. Before going any further, they had to be certain, so they got assistance from Blood Hound Underground Utility Locators who performed a ground-penetrating radar scan of Lincoln’s cornerstone.
“The team indicated a dotted blue square where the time capsule was located, and it was spot on,” Feltrop said. “That’s exactly where it was.”
She said it was a good couple of hours once detected until LMI was able to extract the time capsule. The team started to cut the joints of the “facestone,” which was three to four inches thick using saws and shims. Once they got that stone free, there was a layer of brick going sideways they chipped away at that brick until they reached more bricks going from front to back.
“This 100-year-old brick and mortar was so hard to get out, but they chipped away, and chipped away,” Feltrop said.
As the team continued, they could feel a void. They continued to chip away carefully.
“I got super excited that they could feel the void because I just knew the time capsule was in there.”
A crowd of about 20 were waiting and watching in suspense to finally see this coveted time capsule. Feltrop said that Gaibis offered a little humor while waiting. He asked LMI how many times they’ve had a crowd so big watching them work. LMI said this is the first time in 25 years.
Then the moment finally arrived when the team reached and was able to extract the time capsule. Anticipation filled the crowd.
Opening the Past
“The guy handed it to me, and I opened it up,” Feltrop said. “I am really surprised in what we uncovered because of what I was told after the fact by archival experts. They told me that newspapers are the worst, that they disintegrate, that the pages stick together, but that wasn’t the case here. The newspapers were in good shape, and I was able to turn all the pages.”
Feltrop said also inside, as suspected, was a bible. She said it had a lot of mold on it and the binding had separated, but the inside pages were all good. Also, the two other items inside were scrolls. Feltrop believes those are the staff directory and the picture of the football team. Not wanting to damage the scrolls, she decided to leave them rolled and is in contact with a woman who works at a museum for guidance on how to properly handle them. She is also aware of a place in Butler that does work to restore old bibles.
The unexpected thing was that Feltrop was under the impression from her research that the time capsule would contain an essay on the state of high school education in 1925. She said that the newspaper inside was a special edition that featured an entire section about the newly constructed school and that the front page was dedicated to the discussion of high school education.
“That was the essay on the current system of high school education,” Feltrop said.
Now that all the items have been retrieved that defined Lincoln High School in 1925, it is time for the class of 2025 to leave their own bit of history inside the walls.
Sealing a New Legacy
The excitement of the time capsule doesn’t end with simply removing it and preserving its contents, for Feltrop, Gaibis, the students, teachers, and administrators, sealing a new legacy is also an important element of this historical journey.
Gaibis has asked his friend to create a new time capsule box the same size as the 1925 box, so that the school can fill it with all things 2025. Then once it’s completed, LMI can place it in the spot left by the 1925 time capsule’s removal.
Feltrop said the goal was to add many of the same items that were in the 1925 time capsule, but with added items voted on by the Class of 2025.
The 2025 time capsule will include:
A student directory and staff directory, a letter to the future from a senior, a list of present day slang, a list of popular songs and movies from 1925 to 2025, a current list of prices of things, a couple of grocery story flyers, a varsity letter E from a letterman jacket, staff Id badges for Gaibis and Feltrop, a small bible, a series of books ‘Ellwood Then and Now’ by local author Mark Barnes, a letter from Feltrop that explains the time capsule from 1925 and its removal, an arial map of Ellwood City, an essay on the state of education in 2025 written by an English teacher, pictures of the school inside and outside of the building with captions on each of the photos, 2025 pennies and a student donation of a 1925 penny (because Lincoln is on the penny and they are stopping production of pennies).
Looking Forward
Feltrop said once the items in the 1925 time capsule are ready to be handed over to the Ellwood Historical Society for permanent display, there will be some sort of public ceremony or unveiling.
As the original capsule is preserved, the community is left to wonder what the folks in 2125 will think of the world in 2025.
Feltrop said that she and students want to make a photo book detailing the entire journey starting with the discovery of that dictionary on day one.
As Feltrop reflects on her research and the excitement of this project, she is thankful to Gaibis, her colleagues, the district, LMI, and the community for their work and dedication.
“This has been quite the journey since late May, and it all finally came true. I always felt the time capsule was there and we just had to get to it.”
That is one of THE coolest things I’ve ever heard.T