Cornerstones often hold some hidden treasure
by Pat Medert

It has long been a practice to ceremonially lay a cornerstone for a building constructed for public use. Concealed within the stone, protected from the ravages of time or disasters, are articles reflecting the culture of the generation in which the structure was built and pertaining to the organization or person for which it was erected. Many cornerstones have been laid in Chillicothe, and because of the reporting of them in the Scioto Gazette, we do not have to wait for the demolition of some buildings to determine their contents.

On June 3, 1853, the cornerstone for the Masonic Building (now the Majestic Theatre) was put in place following a parade and concert by a local band. The new hall was being constructed on the ruins of the old one, destroyed in the great Fire of 1852. The contents of the stone included two 1803 coins, which were salvaged from the earlier cornerstone. Among the other articles were two 1853 coins; copies of the three local newspapers; a map of the fire district; numerous documents having to do with the Masonic organization; documents containing the names of the officers of the national, state and local governments; and letters written by Jeremiah McLene in 1799, Thomas Worthington in 1804 and Peter Parcels in 1809.

Fifty years later, on July 21, 1903, the cornerstone for the present Masonic Building on Main Street was laid. It contains another coin retrieved from the rubble of the first hall, a one and a half cent piece bearing the date, 1808. The remaining contents include Masonic documents; the local newspapers, including a German paper; a map of the city; letters written by McLene, Worthington and Parcels; and fifteen photographs of the 1903 Centennial parade.

The cornerstone of the Carlisle Building was put in place in April of 1885. It contains a copy of the city ordinances, a report of the Chillicothe schools, the local newspapers, a photograph of Andrew Carlisle, a picture of the old building and a list of the tenants who occupied the old building.

Among the contents of the cornerstone of the Walnut Street Methodist Church, laid in September, 1903, are documents pertaining to the church; a photograph of the old church which was erected in 1850; the biography of Edward Tiffin, Ohio's first governor and an early Methodist minister; a Columbian half dollar; a silver tray engraved with pictures of the stone and present courthouses; and a pearl tablet, one-half inch in diameter, inscribed with the Lord's Prayer.

Pat Medert is a local historian
From the Chillicothe Gazette