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Lost, then found
BY NICHOLAS VERCILLA
NEW CASTLE NEWS
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lincoln Junior-Senior High School, a 1925 time capsule below the school’s cornerstone was dug out and opened on Tuesday.
The capsule was placed Nov. 30, 1925, below the Ellwood City Borough school. School librarian Heidi Feltrop said when the capsule was opened, the items found were 1925 editions of both the New Castle News and Ellwood City Ledger, a Bible, a 1925 school directory and a roster of the 1925 undefeated WPIAL champion football team.
An essay on education and a photo of a football team were originally placed in the capsule, but were not found inside.
Feltrop and history teacher David Gaibis spearheaded this project and studied its contents.
New Castle-based Lee Michael Industries volunteered to remove the cornerstone and find the capsule. However, when workers first removed the cornerstone, they could not find the capsule.
Not giving up, Feltrop and Gaibis reached out to Blood Hound Underground Utility Locators, based in Indianapolis, to use the company’s ground-penetrating radar to find it below where the cornerstone was.
The school’s ECTV helped document and film the digging and discovery process. The items will be documented and preserved by the Ellwood City Area Historical Society, with a public event to be planned in the future to showcase them.
Feltrop, Gaibis and this year’s senior class will place a new time capsule into the cornerstone.
The items and information to be placed in the new capsule will include a letter to the future; lists of current slang terms and meanings, prices of common goods and popular music; an essay on high school
SEE LINCOLN, A2
A worker from Lee Michael Industries digs under the cornerstone of Lincoln Junior-Senior High School to find the 1925 time capsule.
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Lincoln Junior-Senior High School librarian Heidi Feltrop holds the school’s 1925 time capsule from below the school’s cornerstone.
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FROM A1
education; a Bible; the 2025 graduation program and tickets; staff and student directories; photos of the inside and outside the school; letters and photos of the 2022 time capsule placed inside the Litter Sister of Lady Liberty statue outside the school; grocery store flyers; the school’s newspaper; 2025 pennies and “Ellwood City Then and Now” books by Mark Barnes.
nvercilla@ncnewsonline.com
Lincoln Junior-Senior High School librarian Heidi Feltrop holds a Nov. 28, 1925, edition of the New Castle News from a time capsule below the school.
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