Workers find unexpected time capsule while razing community center

Construction workers found an unexpected treasure while knocking down the Irene B. French Community Center in Merriam.

The oldest part of the building was a school dating to 1911, and workers found a time capsule inside the cornerstone placed that year.

The contents included a “Laws Relating to the Common Schools of Kansas” pamphlet from 1909, a list of those present when the cornerstone was set, and the signatures of students and other Merriam residents, including descendants of the city’s founder, David Gee Campbell, who settled the area in 1864. (Merriam was originally called Campbellton but later renamed for a railroad official.)

The city said it plans to determine how best to showcase the time capsule artifacts. The cornerstone also is being preserved.

Denton Excavating was hired to raze the French center — named for a former mayor — after Merriam opened its new community center this summer in Vavra Park.