First Posted: 1/18/2015
MARYSVILLE (AP) — A central Ohio community is celebrating the recovery of a century-old time capsule believed lost when a historic library was demolished nearly twenty years ago.
The tin box holding records of daily life in Marysville was inside the cornerstone of the city’s Carnegie library for 75 years before its 1997 demolition.
The box arrived at the current public library earlier this month from a genealogy enthusiast from Kentucky who bought it at a yard sale about a decade ago, the Marysville Journal-Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1BBWK15).
The time capsule included copies of three newspapers covering the community from the summer of 1909, a $199.03 bill from the Marysville Sanatorium Company, notices from several local churches, a history of the Union Banking Company, and lists of contemporary school board and city officials, among other documents.
The city’s Carnegie library was demolished over the objection of historic preservationists by a local church that owned it and wanted to expand. Steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie provided grants to build thousands of such libraries around the country, many of which are still in existence.
The library’s corner stone was set on July 5, 1909, as part of the city’s Independence Day celebrations. The reading rooms opened to the public the following February and the library’s formal dedication was held on March 24, 1910.
Robert Parrott, president of the Union County Historical Society, said he was surprised the capsule survived and pleased that it was returned.
“This is where it belongs,” Parrott told the Journal-Tribune as he examined the contents recently at the current library.
