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Polish society opens time capsule at hall being demolished
YOUNGSTOWN
As they watched their former hall get demolished, Free Polish Krakusy Society members said they were curious to see if stories about a time capsule buried in the structure’s cornerstone were true.
They sat vigil at the South Avenue location since Monday, observing workers with ProQuality Land Development of Campbell take down the structure, built in 1939.
ProQuality didn’t get to the concrete cornerstone until Friday morning, removing it from what little is left of the building.
After carefully cutting away at the rear of the cornerstone, workers discovered a small metal can.
Inside the can were tarnished U.S. coins – a quarter, dime, nickel and penny – from 1939 and letters from the society’s leadership from that same year in English and Polish addressed to “our future generations.”
The letter gave a brief history of the society, listed the group’s officers at the time, and stated their wish that the new building would be “a proper place to meet and discuss and exchange ideas for the betterment of our citizenry of Polish extraction, the affairs of our Fatherland, and those of our adopted country, the United States of America.”
For decades, the hall was a hub, particularly for those in the Polish community, for weddings, graduation parties and other events, including boxing matches.
Joseph Magielski of Boardman, the Polish National Alliance regional director for Ohio and West Virginia, and a former Krakusy Society president, said, “The rumor was a time capsule or a bottle of vodka was buried in the cornerstone,” he said. “I’m glad there was something there. The hall was important to those in the Polish community. I was married here. My kids had high-school and college graduation parties there.”
The building was sold by the society in 2006 for $100,000.
“The situation was the neighborhood changed for the worst,” Magielski said.
The property, vacant for about seven years, changed hands a few times since the society sold it, with the last owner listed on the Mahoning County auditor’s website as the Next Generation for Christ Ministry Inc. The ministry, which doesn’t list an address, owes $15,942 in delinquent taxes.
The city hired ProQuality for $38,070 in October to demolish the dilapidated structure.
ProQuality started demolition work Monday and should be done early next week, said Cosmo Iamurri, its owner.
Kevin Horn, a society member, spent Monday through Friday watching the structure be demolished, waiting for ProQuality to get to the cornerstone.
“It’s sad to see the building get demolished, but it’s been nice to hear stories from people who came here to watch it come down,” said Horn, a Poland resident.
The society has 23 members, but has received interest from others interested in joining after hearing about the hall’s demolition, Horn said.
“We’re looking at some property for a new building location,” he said.
The coins and letters will be framed, and the cornerstone will be kept and eventually housed in a new hall if the society builds one, Horn said.
Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th, a society member who moved from the country Poland to the United States in the 1980s, said she grew up in the hall.
“It’s bittersweet to see the hall come down, but it’s nice the Polish community has united to come together to see the capsule open,” she said. The demolition is “good for the city as it revitalizes South Avenue.”
The time capsule drew the interest of others.
Mayor John A. McNally was on hand to see the time capsule opened.
Before it was found, he said, “It has a Geraldo feel to it.” McNally was referring to Rivera’s 1986 opening on live television of gangster Al Capone’s vault in which a few empty bottles were found.
“We were all curious what would be in the capsule,” the mayor said.
The society opened its first hall Sept. 3, 1903, at 903 Franklin Ave., Youngstown, and moved because it was “too small and outmoded for our present needs,” according to the Oct. 14, 1939, letter in the time capsule. Current society members say that original building still stands.