Time Capsule Discovered in Cornerstone at Taylorville Memorial Hospital
Matt Thomas had always heard there was a time capsule placed during construction of St. Vincent Memorial Hospital—the precursor to Taylorville Memorial Hospital—in the early 1950s. When the facility underwent a large-scale renovation in 2020 and 2021, the regional director for facilities management had crews on alert for the rumored capsule.
“Many of the older staff were aware that a time capsule was placed in the hospital,” Thomas said. “Every time we moved to a different wing to start demolition, we would hand search areas that might have been a logical place for a time capsule, but we didn’t find anything.”
That is until Corey Black, facilities manager at TMH, decided to have the 1953 cornerstone cleaned this spring as part of a landscaping project. While Andy Mateer was power washing the cornerstone, he uncovered something under the loose mortar. A rectangular piece of slate appeared, which seemed to cover a hollow void in the solid limestone. After careful chiseling, the time capsule was fully revealed and lifted out of the cornerstone.
“I was worried we might have destroyed it if the capsule actually existed,” Thomas said of the hospital’s demolition. “I was ecstatic the day Corey’s colleagues uncovered the hiding spot in the original cornerstone.”
Area history buffs may be interested in the contents of the box.
The time capsule held a history of the former St. Vincent Hospital, including photographs of the hospital in 1940 and 1953, autographs of the Sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ and hospital personnel, copies of the Western Catholic Sunday Diocesan paper and issues of the Taylorville Breeze-Courier, which announced plans for the new hospital and coverage of the groundbreaking ceremony. There were also blessed medals and miniature statues, new coins from 1952 and 1953, a program for the cornerstone ceremony and group pictures of the medical and dental staff as well as two radiologists.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the hospital’s affiliation with Memorial Health in 1995. The contents of the time capsule will be available for public viewing throughout August in a display case inside the main entrance of Taylorville Memorial Hospital.
TMH president and CEO Kim Bourne is pleased to offer the public a viewing opportunity of the time capsule contents.
“We have always strived to respect and honor the history of the hospital and the many contributions of the Sisters,” Bourne said. “That’s why we restored the stained glass windows from the original building and retained the statue of Christ that colleagues donated to the hospital in the 1950s.”
