deeply incised dated cornerstone recovered during last days of holy bethel church demolition

several days after salvaging the late 19th century west side chicago holy bethel or "adams street" church's interior, which involved extracting its painted tin time capsule filled with an assortment of ephemera pertaining to the congregation that built it in 1888, i made one final trip to recover the limestone cornerstone itself. the cornerstone was cut and carved by p. kempe & company, whose business card was left resting against the box when the stone's cavity was first accessed.

between the time we concluded our salvage of the interior and made the final trip to retrieve the dated cornerstone, i visited the demolition site periodically to document its demolition. this began with the back or northern wall, and progressed forward as heneghan wrecking brought a larger excavator onboard (equipped with a much larger boom and stick) to pluck the massive yellow pine top and bottom chords or beams making up the truss system. the old growth beams were notched, jointed and reinforced with a series of wrought iron or steel threaded end tie rods.

soon thereafter, with both excavators onsite, the demolition quickly progressed and the structure was brought down, its remains to be trucked off in a matter of several days. during my last visit the rough cut limestone foundation was exposed, but only momentarily, after which the backfill was quickly brought to fill in the basement. with that, the ground was leveled off, sprinkled with brick fragments and a lingering fence. the church building that stood at the corner of adams and damen (originally named robey) since 1888, became just another piece of history wiped away from chicago's ever-changing urban landscape.

with the oversized cut stone, capsule and contents, business cards, and the slab of limestone used to "seal" the cavity's opening now in my possession, i spent time in the studio recreating and/or arranging the assemblage to accurately represent exactly how it appeared when i first discovered it. armed with several "in situ" photographs i had taken during its extraction, i made sure that the placement of the box, business cards and stone resting atop the capsule were precise so i could offer a continuous "replay" of where things were positioned upon initial discovery and how the contents were removed during extraction of the capsule and contents within the capsule.

after talking to tim samuelson and heneghan wrecking's owner, pat heneghan, i was told that the nearby rush hospital would be holding a "ceremony" to unveil the contents of the time capsule heneghan's company had removed from jones building, constructed in 1888. originally known as the daniel a. jones hospital (a wing of the chicago presbyterian hospital), the building's cornerstone was laid on july 3rd, 1888, just four months before the cornerstone ceremony held at the adams street church. the newly-built hospital wing provided 250 additional beds to the hospital complex at a construction cost of $130,000. the bulk of the money was donated by the estate of daniel a. jones, who, at the groundbreaking ceremony, was properly eulogized by close friend, charles l. hutchinson.

"...we are gathered here in the name of the great physician to set the stone which shall be at the corner of the temple dedicated to the service of god.  what grander temple could our brother daniel a. jones build, what loftier monument could he raise to perpetuate his memory?  hard, indeed, it is in this day and generation to heed the word of the master: ‘lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.’  the temptations are so many and so great; the world has so much to offer; the heart finds such delight in things temporal.  but how much better for themselves, their children, and their fellow men, if now in their lifetime they should begin to follow the example set by daniel a. jones, or the grand example set by one now on the platform, a near and dear friend of his — mr. d.k. pearsons.  better for to spend one-half of an ample fortune and leave a heritage of good and generous deeds and a beloved name to your posterity than to die with all the wealth of the indies.  there is so much need in chicago today of more devotion to the higher interests of life, to education, philanthropies, and humanities..."

according to newspaper accounts at the time, the capsule recovered from the demolition site was placed there by mr. jones' granddaughter, ruth jones. from what pat told me on the day i picked up the cornerstone from the adams street church, the box was massive in comparison to the one i brought along to show him. i believe he told me it was comprised of lead. i hope the hospital thoroughly documents their box, the contents, and the stone. moreover, cherishing the experience of unearthing these materials as much as anything, i should hope to know the manner in which it was discovered as well as what was placed in the cornerstone over a century ago.

rights-managed images taken from the bldg. 51 photoarchive