Erie First Presbyterian Church opens a time capsule from 1887 during a service
ERIE – In 1887, construction began on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Anne Sullivan met six-year-old Helen Keller, and members of the Erie First Presbyterian Church packed a time capsule.
On Sunday, current church members opened the 137-year-old time capsule during one of the church’s final services. With membership at the nearly 175-year-old church down to about 10, it plans to close it for good soon.
About 25 people attended the hour-long service on Sunday, during which the foundation stone time capsule was opened. It was installed and dedicated in July 1887.
“The time capsule has not been opened yet. It will be opened for all of you,” said the Rev. Pamela Short of Camden, one of three local pastors who have helped out at the church in recent years. A newspaper sticking out of the tin provided the only clue to what was inside.
David VanBelle, church clerk, and Ed Killian presided over the opening. Using tin snips, VanBelle cut the lid off the thin metal box as the congregation gathered around her.
The first newspaper to appear was “The New York Evangelist” on July 7, 1887.
“It’s in pretty good condition,” said one of the participants.
Next, VanBelle canceled the church’s general meeting in June 1887.
“This is so cool,” said one participant.
This was followed by a Monroe Democrat of July 21, 1887, and the Monroe Commercial of July 22, 1887. Another newspaper in it, the Detroit Free Press, cost 3 cents.
Next came a handwritten list of subscribers to the church’s first building, dated April 25, 1849. Erie First Presbyterian was organized in 1849 and originally met in a log cabin. The current brick building was constructed in 1887.
Previous reporting: Almost 175-year-old church in Erie closed
“It’s pretty tattered,” someone said of the subscriber list. The list showed subscribers’ contributions. Most gave $3 and $5, but one gave $100. Among the donors was the Keeney family, which still operates Keeney & Miller Orchards in Erie.
“I wonder what $5 would be in 1849?” asked one attendee.
In a sealed, yellowed envelope were the names of the church officers for 1887. The pastor was Reverend William S. Taylor. The names of the elders were listed, but difficult to read.
White dust covered a small blue Bible. The book stated that Soffia had been married on Tuesday, November 30, 1886. Another small book turned out to be the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States; the document was ratified in 1821 and amended in 1833.
A receipt from the Toledo Moving Co. dated June 4, 1887, listed four items. The bill totaled $3.86.
The writing was difficult to read, so Diane Adams tried to decipher it. One of the lines appeared to read “clutch pinion.” Adams, of Monroe, is a pastor and teacher at Jefferson Schools. She, Short and Deb Davies have served the church since it lost its permanent pastor.
April Killian, a church member and historian, said the contents of the time capsule will be donated to the Erie Historical Society. The metal capsule itself was reburied along with modern articles about the church.
A few weeks ago, April’s husband Ed, along with Rudy Laderach and his nephew Tom Laderach, spent about 40 hours trying to extract the time capsule from the cornerstone. Ed said they expected the task to take only four hours. The work involved jackhammers, saws and drills.
First, the men cut off the outer cornerstone in front of the church, but the stone would not budge. So they went into the crawl space to make some cuts there. This was also unsuccessful. But in the crawl space, their drill struck something metallic and created sparks. This led them to the location of the time capsule.
Knowing where the box was, the men removed the paneling and moldings from inside the church. They pried the metal box out of the wall, which was made of three layers of brick. This project took all of July 1.
“(The time capsule) had two inches of sandstone on top and then mortar. It was built to stay there,” Ed said.
After the time capsule was unveiled on Sunday, the wall was repaired. The foundation stone was repaired beforehand.
“Rudy went to the beach and got a bucket of sand, which he mixed with the mortar to put the bricks back in place,” reads a poster on the church wall. Tom did the grouting. Members of the Laderach family have been bricklayers for generations.
“My father worked as a bricklayer after the Army around 1940. I helped him as a kid. After I got married, I worked as a pipefitter. I have brothers who still work in the bricklaying business,” Rudy said Sunday. “Tom is a bricklayer. He was a tremendous help. He knew a lot about what we needed to do.”
During Sunday’s service, several attendees shared their stories about Erie First Presbyterian Church. The date for the closing service will be announced soon.
Pastor Short said that in 1975, the church shared its facilities with preschool children from the Mason Consolidated Schools for nine weeks.
“170 4-year-olds in this building with holy giggles,” she said. The pastor also learned that the church had previously hosted community meetings, debates and sewing circles.
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Sharon Grodi said she first attended Erie First Presbyterian in 1974 with her two young boys. No one knew her, but that same week she was tracked down by members who invited the boys to the upcoming Easter egg hunt. Grodi was impressed and has been a member ever since. Today she also serves as the church’s treasurer.
Dave Fleck recalled that members of the Collingswood Presbyterian Church in Toledo worked on the church in the mid-1970s. They painted the bell tower and the barn.
“They put a red, white and blue stripe on the barn. It was like that for years,” Fleck remembers. “We put down roots in this church. I hope something good comes out of it.”
— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at [email protected].
