JEROMESVILLE — On the second floor of Hillsdale Middle School, a stone vault containing a time capsule sat for almost 100 years, waiting for someone to open it.
On Thursday, Hillsdale Middle School staff did just that, removing the building’s cornerstone and cracking it open to get to the copper capsule inside.
They quickly ran into a problem; the capsule was soldered shut and they didn’t have the tools necessary to undo soldering from 1927.
Modern soldering irons didn’t work. A grinder didn’t work. So they settled on using a crowbar to “very patiently” chisel out the capsule’s seal, inch by inch, Hillsdale Middle School Principal Tim Keib said.
Once they finally cracked it open, they found a collection of documents, books and photos that had been damaged to a varying degree by mold, water and time. The full list of what was inside is below.
- Signed rosters of Hillsdale students from when the capsule was buried
- An administrative roster
- A bible
- Blueprints for the school
- Photographs of students
- A yearbook
- A collection of pennies
- A copy of the Ashland Times-Gazette from April 27, 1927
- A book about education law
- A map of Ashland County
- A note from the person who sealed the capsule
- A letter from an administrator to whoever opened it
- A small American flag
Keib, who has been with the district for 29 years, said opening the capsule was the end of his legacy and a “once in a lifetime” experience.
“That’s one of the things that we were talking about. When do you ever (get to) open a 90 year old time capsule?” he said.
Besides taking things out of a capsule, Keib also has experience putting things in.
When the district put together a time capsule for its new building, he added a letter to the future Hillsdale Middle School principal outlining what the priorities, values and motivations of the district are today, he said.
He’s unsure when a future generation will find his letter, but he’ll be “dead no matter what, so it’s okay,” he said with a laugh.
According to eighth grade history teacher Todd Miller, when Hillsdale Middle School was first built the priority for the building was indoor plumbing.
As the district has built its new 21st century facility over the past few years, its priority has been school safety, which has taken the form of a tornado shelter and fire prevention tools, Keib said.
“So can you imagine 90 years from now, 50 years from now, they open (our time capsule) up, ‘Man, what was wrong with these guys? They were worried about fires and they were worried about this,’” he said.
Miller had something of an idea of what was inside the capsule from when he met a student who was in elementary school when the capsule was sealed.
Around 20 years ago, she told him that she had brought a penny to the school to add to the collection, but got so excited with the ceremony she forgot to.
Now, 20 years after she told him and almost a century after the capsule was buried, he has physical evidence of her story, he said.
As the demolition of Hillsdale Middle School and the opening of the time capsule approached, Miller would point out to his class a picture of the building’s first students he keeps in his classroom.
“This was the first chapter of the Jeromesville school story. I said, you guys are the final chapter, you should look at it that way. And, and you are at a crossroads of the end of one story and the beginning of another one,” he said.
The public will have one last chance to say goodbye to the old middle school on April 23 from 2 to 4 p.m., when the district will be hosting an open-house tribute.
