October 24, 2016
As East Texas Baptist University celebrated its annual Founder's Day celebration on Saturday, the University also offered up several items from a recently discovered 100-year-old time capsule in the Marshall Hall building's cornerstone.
The cornerstone capsule contained several items dating from 1916 when the University's Marshall Hall building was constructed.
"What we found when we opened the capsule was that there were several items in there from different community businesses, organizations and people," ETBU Provost Tommy Sanders said Saturday. "Those items offer proof that ETBU is a college built by the city and citizens of Marshall. It was truly the whole community, Methodists, Presbyterians, everyone, who donated and committed to founding this college in Marshall."
Items included in the capsule include a copy of the News Messenger paper from Feb. 21, 1916 as well as a wheat penny, Indian head penny, bread tag, Baptist Standard issue and a copy of The Harrison County Newspaper from Feb. 17, 1916.
The capsule also contained several handwritten letters from people in the community and the college.
The university first learned of the capsule inside the cornerstone last fall when a then ETBU freshman began research on the Marshall Hall building and its cornerstone.
"Jonah Boaz, who is now a sophomore here at ETBU, was doing research on the building and found a paper that actually listed the items contained in the capsule," Sanders said. "It's kind of serendipitous that he found it when we did and at that time, Dr. (J. Blair) Blackburn said we would open it in 2016."
The items will now be joined with several items from 2016 to be sealed and placed back into the cornerstone for future generations to discover.