Clark County Press (Neillsville, WI)

September 6, 2006, Page 12

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Time Capsule Discovered during Loyal church renovation

German newspaper from Neillsville among contents

While removing the cornerstone in order to install a handicap-accessible elevator in the soon to be completed addition to St. Anthony Church in Loyal, a time capsule was recently uncovered.

The time capsule had been placed in the cornerstone of the newly-built St. Balthasar’s Church (now called St. Anthony’s) in 1931 – about 75 years ago.  A portion of its contents had been retrieved from the original Catholic Church built in Loyal in 1893.

The time capsule, actually a metal box enclosed inside another metal box, contained a number of newspapers, one of which was a German newspaper, Der Deutsch – Amerikaner, printed in June 1893, in Neillsville.  The relevance of the German newspaper was that the earliest settlers of Loyal were of German origin.  Other contents included items of religious significance, a photo of Bishop Rev. James Schwebach who died in 1921, and some coins from the early 1890’s.

The items retrieved from the time capsule will be on display at St. Anthony’s on Saturday, Sept. 16^th after 4 p.m. mass and between the 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. masses on Sunday, Sept. 17^th.

As the original time capsule received considerable moisture damage, a time capsule made of PVC and packed with insulation will be placed in a cornerstone of the new St. Anthony addition.  It will contain the contents of the original capsule plus various timely additions.

Pictured is a portion of the 1893 German newspaper printed in Neillsville, which was found recently in the time capsule, at St. Anthony’s Church in Loyal.

The metal time capsule that was recently found is shown next to the new PVC capsule (right) that will soon be placed in the cornerstone of the new addition to the church.

Standing in front of the corner of the new St. Anthony addition where the new time capsule will be placed are building committee members Carol Hubing (left) and James Helm (right), along with history buff Paul Glaudeman, who all worked with the found capsule contents.