The Grace EUB church building on West Market Street in Rockford was demolished on Wednesday, October 26th, by the Spoores Demolition Co., of Van Wert, Ohio. Care had been taken to remove, pack and store the stained glass windows. On October 24, Steve Thompson's second request to remove the corner stone, was approved, and he began work on it immediately. According to Steve's hand-written account, it took him 4 hours to chisel the piece out and run it down on 2 planks to a waiting handtruck to deliver it over to the Rockford Methodist Church. Susan Sheppard, church secretary, and Steve were the witnesses to history as they opened the sealed copper box and were the first to handle and read and record the contents. It was a moving experience for them as they read the letter from the church committee: Pastor C.H. Lilly, Trustees W.B. Frisinger, Homer Roebuck, Bert Book, Grover Ward and Cliff Ransbottom.

Steve estimates that it weighs 300 lbs. It was protected on all sides with a layer of paper. The builders  wanted to protect it from the concrete they were using.

There were several copies of the Religious Telescope, a Christian News paper and one Rockford Press newspaper. A letter from the preparers of the time capsule asked that a representative of the Religious Telescope and the Rockford Press be able to cover the opening of the time capsule.

The contents included the following (to name a few):
A Civil War Bible, inscribed by the mother of H.C. Morrison as he traveled off to war. the Bible, published in 1852 in New York by the American Bible Institute is inscribed with each battle as he encountered them. At age 19, he was all over the south and would include the date and location of the battle, whether he was safe or not, "hungry or not" and eventually his battle injury at Atlanta, hospital stay and discharge on March 15, 1865 with the inscription "Got home alive". He participated in these battles to name a few: Battle of Kinnisaw Mountain, Battle of Lookout Mountain; Battle of Nashville, Battle of Stone Run; and more. What a terrific box of historical documents.

There was an adding machine tape listing the individual costs of the church which overall hit the $27,000 mark in 1924, a list of the charter members of the original church including HG Morrison, a religious Telescope newsletter with a picture of a "to scale" model of the new structure, built by Reverend C.H Lilly who was not only the pastor but the architect who designed it.
 

What a terrific box of historical documents that are destined to return to the time capsule and laid in a new church corner some day!

Steve Thompson poses with the Grace EUB Church Corner Stone which was sealed with a time capsule inside it on September 7, 1924	The back of the stone contained a recessed area for the time capsule. Initials in the concrete corner stone were "RB"	The 8 x 8 x 6 copper box was so carefully soldered shut that it was green weathered on the outside and perfectly shiny copper on the inside	A small silk flag with 48 stars covered the contents of the time capsule.
Susan Sheppard, Rockford United Methodist Church secretary and Steve Thompson, church member, pose with the copper time capsule	A small bible, carried by one of the founding fathers of the church, went to the civil war and back.	A September 5, 1924 Rockford Press newspaper was amongst the findings as well as a copy of the Religious Telescope, a newsletter for the Evangelical United Brethren churches.	The Rockford Press also featured the Kroger Store specials.