Cornerstone reveals past to church

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Stone masons were hard at work on the limestone facing beneath University United Methodist Church’s 100 year-old cornerstone. They were part of a much larger team of construction workers who were renovating the sanctuary building. When they pulled a piece of stone away, something caught their eyes.

 

Marc Erck, the church director of Music and Worship, picks up the story: “All work stopped; the excitement built and they came into the office and found us and we went out and looked at it as it came out. And we were overwhelmed.”

 

The copper box was shrouded in a green mixed with a coating of limestone. Even without removing the lid, it was clear a bent corner had allowed moisture inside. Expecting the worst, church officials removed the top and to their surprise and delight, some of the artifacts inside had survived.

 

“It’s like a time machine,” said Erck. “Suddenly we’re there and suddenly they’re here.”

 

The box and its contents went into a display case in a hallway outside the church office. A close examination turns up a copy of The Austin Statesman from the day the capsule was stashed away in the exterior church wall. The front page story focuses on cotton prices and another story inside the paper reports that the Austin City Council did, “Nothing Important.” Then there is the advertisement for the new Hyde Park neighborhood, Austin’s first “subdivision,” now an integrated, expensive and highly sought after part of town. The ad suggests that speculators might be interested in buying several lots in the neighborhood for later resale.

 

“The man who owns real estate in Austin at present prices can sell at a handsome profit in the near future,” assured the ad. “Bright is our future. General confidence prevails.” Then, the copy goes on to promise prospective buyers a, “Strictly White Neighborhood.”

 

How things have changed.

 

“When the civil rights movement began in the 60’s,” said Erck, “our church led the charge and from then, that has been a strong plank of our mission, is civil rights for all; and not just African-Americans, but all of those who need a voice in the wilderness.”

 

At 10:45 a.m. Sunday, September 27, the current congregation of the church will bury a somewhat larger time capsule in the same space beneath the cornerstone. It will be sealed in a stainless steel box this time to preserve its artifacts for a time, one hundred years hence, when people now still unborn will gather excitedly to pry off the lid from the box. To what changes will its contents testify on the far distant day?