Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- A time capsule from 1924 was opened at the Japanese Church of Christ.
- The capsule contained Bibles, newspapers and a hand-stitched Japanese flag.
- The church faces challenges from a planned sports district in Salt Lake City.
SALT LAKE CITY — Lois Hide Hashimoto's mother gave her a Bible when she left her native Japan to live in the United States.
The handwritten inscription on the inside cover reads:
"To Lois Hide from her mother when she started to America. 20th June, 1906. 'The Lord is our strength and refuge.'"
Eighteen years later, Hashimoto added these handwritten words on the same and adjoining pages before the Japanese-language New Testament was entombed in the cornerstone of the Japanese Church of Christ in downtown Salt Lake City:
"Donated by Mrs. Hide Hashimoto. Inscribed on the occasion of laying the corner stone. Nov. 2, 1924 A.D. 3 o'clock p.m."
And Lois Hashimoto's Bible wasn't the only one in the box. Her 13-year-old son, Eddie Hashimoto, also put his English-language Bible inside.
"Inscribed on its occasion of laying the corner stone. Sunday, Nov. 2, 1924. 3 o'clock p.m. Donated by the undersigned. Eddie Hashimoto. 315 So 12th East st. Salt Lake City Utah."
In October, 101 years later, Joy Douglass and Ann Pos saw and held the Bibles belonging to their grandmother and father for the first time. The church extracted the time capsule from the cornerstone of the building. It was no small feat for what turned out to be an oddly-shaped, small cast iron box built into a concrete foundation.
"It's fascinating. It's wonderful. And I'm glad the church has lasted that long being situated where it is right now downtown," Pos said. "It's been vulnerable for many years. When they built the Salt Palace, it was an issue. Now it's an issue again."
Pos' and Douglass' grandparents Edward Daigoro Hashimoto and Lois Hideko (Hide) Hashimoto helped establish the Japanese Church of Christ in the city in 1918. Its current building was constructed in 1924. Church members commemorated its 100th anniversary a year ago after a monthslong renovation project.
What's inside the time capsule
Like the church itself, the newly opened time capsule connects the past to an uncertain future. The chapel, and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple a block away, are the only remaining buildings of what was once a thriving Japantown in Salt Lake City. Both hold weekly Sunday services.
The historic red brick church sits in the middle of a planned sports, entertainment, culture and convention district between the Delta Center and Salt Palace Convention Center. Church leaders have spurned offers for the property. Smith Entertainment Group, which is overseeing the multibillion dollar project, has promised to be sensitive to the church's needs.
Alan Shino, a church elder, wonders what the future holds with "all the dynamics and forces" that are coming down on the Japanese community at the church's longtime location.
"It's such a struggle because will we survive a hundred years, especially with the impetus to create this latest, greatest sports area. It's not dissimilar to what happened when Japantown was destroyed," he said.
"In some ways, finding that time capsule occurred at the right time because it will give our congregation ... more of an insight into what we want for our future, what do we do for the next years."
In addition to the Bibles, the heavy trapezoidal box contained a hand-stitched Japanese flag and what appears to be an off-the-shelf 48-star American flag; copies of the Japanese-language Rocky Mountain Times and Utah Nippo newspapers, both dated Nov. 1, 1924, and the English-language Salt Lake Tribune dated Nov. 2, 1924; a sheet of silver glitter-trimmed paper with the names of four Sunday School teachers; the church's articles of incorporation and a brief history of the church, noting the estimated building cost at $30,000.
Lois Hashimoto is listed as a member of the board of trustees on the articles of incorporation.
All of the items were folded and tightly compacted in the thick box, which had a lid sealed with six screws. There was little degradation to the papers and cloth.
The church held an unveiling ceremony Saturday to reveal the contents of the time capsule, but it was opened weeks earlier at the University of Utah's Marriott Library Preservation Department. The carefully preserved artifacts offer a rare glimpse into the families, faith and community of early Japanese worshippers in Utah.
"They worked so hard with everything that was going on at the time, the racism, the struggles of not knowing the language and just settling ... that they were able to build this church and look forward, not just for them but for the future generations. So that's why that time capsule is important," said Lorraine Crouse, a third-generation church member and trustee.
An unusual box
Crouse, whose parents met in Japantown, had always wondered if there might be a time capsule in the church's cornerstone.
The church hired a company that used ground-penetrating radar technology on the outside of the chapel to determine that there was indeed something inside the cornerstone. Not wanting to damage the exterior of the century-old building, Shino and his friend, Mike Friebel, went at it from the inside. They spent 40 hours in all drilling through concrete, removing bricks and cutting rebar in the foundation.
"We didn't know what we were looking for," Shino said. "It was just a pain."
They knew they had something when the drill inadvertently penetrated the sides of the box and some metal shavings came out. They ran an endoscopic camera into the hole and saw what looked like a book. The drill punctured the newspapers, but did no further damage to the contents.
The box was encased in concrete as if it was "floating" there, Shino said. "I was just baffled that they would have done it the way they did," he said. "They hid it well." After removing all the concrete stuck to the box, Shino said he struck by the shape and weight of the box.
It's about the size of an old-time lunch pail that tapers at the bottom. It weighed in at 23 pounds.
Crouse, a retired University of Utah photo archivist, took the unopened time capsule to the university's Marriott Library in late August.
"I've never seen a container like that for a time capsule. It's cast bronze. It's probably a half-an-inch thick.When you hit it, it rings like a bell," said Randy Silverman, head of preservation.
"It's a gorgeous cast piece. The shape is unusual. ... The amazing part is that it seems like it was actually produced for this purpose."
Read the entire story at Deseret.com.
