Ohio community recovers time capsule lost after demolition

Associated Press

MARYSVILLE, Ohio

A central Ohio community is celebrating the recovery of a century-old time capsule believed lost when a historic library was demolished nearly 20 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.

The time capsule included copies of three newspapers covering the community from the summer of 1909, a $199.03 bill from the Marysville Sanatorium Co., notices from several local churches, a history of the Union Banking Co., 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 cornerstone was set 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 on March 24, 1910.