“It’s an excellent opportunity to explore the world of 1915 in Greene County, in a way that we don’t often have the chance to do,” said Mary McKinley, outreach coordinator for the Archives.
Forgotten for nearly 110 years, the capsule was rediscovered in November 2023. Jefferson Twp. was in the process of demolishing the old Greeneview South elementary building — on Hussey Road near Bowersville — and trustee Richard Zehring, who owned the building, suspected there might be a time capsule in the cornerstone.
Zehring contacted Kristie Tidd of Greene County’s Department of Development, who then contacted the Greene County Archives, to see if there was a record of time capsules in the area.
Greene County has no such record, but that “in and of itself is an interesting question,” McKinley said.
Greene County Archivists began investigating, and found that newspapers at the time spoke of a grand ceremony, celebrating the cornerstone laying of the Jefferson Twp. Centralized School, with about a thousand people in attendance.
Another clue was the dates on the stone: 1858 (the township’s founding) and 1915 (the date the school was built).
“With those two dates, we were pretty suspicious that there would be a time capsule in there and that maybe it will have more to do with Jefferson Twp. than maybe just the school building, although we don’t know for sure until we open it,” McKinley said.
They were right. The staff of Greene County Services carefully cut open the 18-inch cube of the cornerstone, and inside found a small metal box.
The Jefferson Twp. Centralized School opened in 1915, as the combined school building for the entire township. It opened with 275 students in 12 rooms. The school even had public transportation, in the form of seven horse-drawn wagons, or “horse hacks” that drove children to school.
In 1959, the school was combined with two other township schools to become part of what is now the Greeneview Local School District. The building was renamed Greeneview South elementary, until it closed in 2005.
The cornerstone of the school building was laid on June 7, 1915, the anniversary of the township’s founding, and at the time, during the first World War.
“The person who gave the keynote address for the cornerstone laying was talking about World War I during his speech, so time capsules have the wonderful experience of not only local history, but also the impact of national and world history on the local communities being reflected.”
The time capsule will be opened exactly 109 years after it was buried. The opening will also be livestreamed for those who cannot attend, via the “Greene County Archives” Facebook page.
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