A true blast from the past has been unveiled.
A time capsule from a cornerstone in the First Church of God in Noblesville was recently opened. The church disbanded and vacated the property 11 years ago.
Construction of the church was completed in 1962 at 1610 Field Dr., and a time capsule was placed inside behind a cornerstone. Noblesville Schools bought the 5.6-acre property, which includes another house, for storage in 2014, said Marnie Cooke, Noblesville Schools director of marketing and communications.
“We’re now planning to raze the building to make way for a new proposed tennis facility,” Cooke said.
Noblesville Schools invited former congregation members to be there Aug. 3 when the time capsule was opened.
Noblesville resident Betty Clark was among the former members to attend. She had attended the church for approximately 50 years at its former location on Cherry Street and during the entire time it was at Field Drive.
“Attendance had (gone) down,” Clark said. “We were in the process of getting a new minister and we had to bring interims in and we were having a hard time finding a minister for the pay.”
Clark said the years she had reminded people through the years that there was time capsule stored in the church.
“I said if it ever gets torn down, that the time capsule is in there,” Clark said. “I didn’t remember all we put in. There was history of the church that started in Noblesville and some church bulletins. There were pictures of the church on Cherry Street and on Field Drive. There was a Bible in there and you can’t believe how good a shape the Bible was in since it had been in that box since 1962.”
The capsule contained newspapers from the now-defunct Noblesville Ledger from 1962.
Clark was married in the church, and her husband died earlier in the year when the church closed. Clark, whose three children were raised in the church, taught Sunday school at the church.
Clark said some of the church members attending were members farther back in the church’s history, and some were members at the time it closed.
The First Church of God is headquartered in Anderson and began conducting services in Noblesville in 1930.
