July 3, 2014 at 3:44 p.m.
Sacred Heart time capsule from 1937 opened
Sacred Heart time capsule from 1937 opened
By Kayla Thomason-
A utility knife was used to cut the thin lead casing around the small capsule. The casing was gently peeled back to reveal a checkerboard box. An illegible signature was etched into the flap of lead.
Marc Lietha, owner of the former Sacred Heart Hospital building, carefully pried the lid off and reached his gloved hand in to carefully remove a slightly water-damaged picture of what appeared to be the hospital.
The next item pulled from the capsule was a delicate document with the Sacred Heart Hospital letterhead listing various people such as The Holy Father Pope Pius XI, who was the reigning pontiff of the Holy Catholic Church in 1937, names of various Tomahawk church leaders, the names of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother who were present at that time, a prayer or song in German, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Governor of Wisconsin Philip La Follette, a list of the doctors at the hospital and the name of the architects. The last name was a bit harder to read and all that could be made out was Hutter.
Also removed from the time capsule were six tiny metal capsules that held little statues. One was fairly rusted while others were difficult to pull apart.
Lietha and Sister Lois Bush of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother thought the list of people was quite interesting.
"I thought it was pretty amazing that so many sisters were here at that time so I thought that was very cool," Bush said.
Bush didn't know much about the little statues but thought they could have been a fairly common in the '30s.
There was a pin with the Sorrowful Mother on it, medals on frayed bits of ribbons, a penny from 1936, metal beads and a medal with the blessing of Saint Francis inscribed on it.
One item had fallen apart, but could be put back together. There was a circular band with a piece of glass, which held a piece of wax with a picture of Joseph with Jesus as a child on the other side. Another piece of glass went on the other side.
According to Bush, Saint Joseph is a special patron of the Sisters.
The next item was a very delicate piece of paper. All that could be read were the following words: "1937 in the corner of this building Sorrowful Mothers."
"I'm sure it says 'we've placed these artifacts' there may even be a listing of the artifacts in there," Lietha said.
A newspaper from the Catholic Daily Tribune from Dubuque, Iowa was nicely folded in the bottom of the box.
"The newspaper is actually in phenomenal shape, you could really open it up and read it all today," Lietha said.
Bits of deteriorated paper were also pulled out of the capsule.
"I think it's really exciting to see a piece of the Sisters' heritage from 77 years ago and what they were thinking when they prepared the time capsule, so it was a really exciting moment and we are really grateful that the owners reached out and shared that with us today," said Monica Hilt, president of Sacred Heart Hospital.
Everyone present was quite intrigued by the little relics that had been locked away for so long.
"I would like to keep the penny," Lietha said. "I don't have much left from the hospital in my 10 years there but I'd like to keep the penny. Everything else that's of religious significance to the Sisters I would like to donate to the Sisters, it should go back to where it came from."
It was a day of remembrance for Lietha, who thought of his business partner, David Frank.
"David was my business partner, he passed away from cancer just a little over four years ago," he said. "This building was history, it was hope and although we couldn't see it through to fruition Ministry is a fine, fine company that will bring a great facility to Tomahawk to do what we intended to do which was serve the seniors, but he would have wholeheartedly supported giving this to the Sisters today."
The cross that had been at the cornerstone as well as both cornerstones were donated to the Tomahawk Historical Society.
It took a number of years for the time capsule to be located.
"The Sisters have been in this community since the late 1800s when they were asked by the local parish priests to come and start a hospital in Tomahawk," Hilt said. "At that time a time capsule was put together and put in the cornerstone and then when we relocated to the new facility I think there was a search that ensued to find this particular time capsule but we were never able to recover it, we were able to open up the 1961 time capsule but not the 1937."
Frank and Lietha purchased the hospital a decade ago.
In one corner the stones had been removed in an attempt to find the time capsule. Lietha saw a particular stone he thought might be the one containing the time capsule. Being a preservationist, he didn't think it was the time to take the stone with the building still intact so he had the corner repaired.
Ten years later, while he was in negotiation with another company and realized the facility would not meet their needs, the building was slotted to be torn down.
He told the other company that he wanted both cornerstones from the building.
"I was going to donate them to the Tomahawk Historical Society so they would have some memory of the building," Lietha said.
After they had pulled out the cornerstone Lietha discovered that it had approximately a half inch of limestone resting on top. They removed it and inside was the time capsule.
Lietha originally wanted to wait until 2037 to open the capsule but was eventually convinced to open it now.
"Thirty years ago this coming Sunday was actually the founding date for Ministry Health Care ... so it seems like a good time to open something from the past and these are the people whose shoulders we stand on," Bush said.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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