Echoes of the Past: Uncovering the Fate of Lansing's First Time Capsule
From the Archives – April 19, 2024
By Ed Busch
In last week’s story, we learned about the time capsule located near the Chapin Room. The 150th anniversary time capsule wasn’t the church’s first time capsule. The first documented one was described in the Lansing State Republican newspaper on July 2, 1896. The occasion was the laying of the corner stone for the Universalist Church under construction at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Ottawa Street. The ceremonies included singing a church hymn, scriptures and a prayer by Reverend Charles Legal, followed by what was described by the reporter as a “forcible and eloquent address” by the Reverend J. S. Cantwell, D.D. of Chicago. Portions of the address were recorded in the article. Following the address, “came the depositing of relics, etc. in the corner stone.” The article then lists the items included such as names of all the church members, officers of the church and parish, officers of Sunday School and young People’s Union, members of the Ladies Social Union and Chapin Club, a church history with names of pastors, newspaper copies, the names of Grand Lodge and Mason members responsible for laying the corner stone, a Spanish coin, a photograph of the old church, a poem by Mrs. George Cole and a photograph of Mrs. S. E. V. Emery. The ritual was completed with the “cement spread, the square, plumb and level applied to the stone and the stone sprinkled with corn, wine and oil. The exercises closed with singing by the audience and the benediction.”
In the 1920s and 30s, the Lansing Universalist church went through a period of rough financial distress. On February 6, 1935, the church made an agreement with the Universalist General Convention to deed it the property and assets and assume the church’s outstanding mortgage. The congregation continued to meet in the building until it was sold to local Lansing businessman Lee E. Cahill at the end of 1939. The building was converted into offices and known as the Cahill Building. In the spring of 1960 (64 years after its construction), the church building was scheduled for demolition for the construction of a new 8-story building to house the Lansing Business University. The Lansing State Journal paper of February 3, 1960, includes an article on the demand for relics in the building. One of these is the large round stained-glass window on the south side of the church steeple. Nine feet in diameter, it was promised to a group of Masons for including in their temple. Also mentioned is the request by Reverend Gerald Wyman of the Universalist-Unitarian Church for the name plate over the main entrance and the box of relics in the cornerstone. Rev. Wyman knew of this box thanks to a scrapbook created by church members which included the article from 1896. Razing of the building began in April with the tower being battered down on April 27, 1960. No further mention of the relics was found in the newspaper. In an effort to learn the fate of the first time capsule, I then looked at the scant holdings in the church archives for Spring 1960 but no luck. I also looked in a church history written in 1971 by Evelyn and Burr Osborn and in Jerry Thornton’s 1973 “Ideas Have Consequences” book but no mention. It’s possible it was given to the church and some of the contents became part of the archives and others lost through time. The ultimate fate of the relics remains a mystery.
Time capsules are a significant method for capturing snapshots of an organization’s history to be rediscovered decades later. An interesting fact related to this is that there are two time capsules in space on the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977.
Were you involved with the time capsule at Grove St. or So. Penn? Do you have any photographs related to it? Do you have any topics you’d like explored from the archives? Let me know at uucgl.archives@gmail.com .
Image citations:
1. The First Universalist Church at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Ottawa Street, Capital Area District Library (JQ02e00)
