Exploring the legacy of this historic Utah church through its time capsule

Lois Hide Hashimoto’s mother gave her a Bible when she left her native Japan to live in the United States.

The handwritten inscription on the inside cover reads:

“To Lois Hide from her mother when she started to America. 20th June, 1906. ‘The Lord is our strength and refuge.’”

Eighteen years later, Hashimoto added these handwritten words on the same and adjoining pages before the Japanese-language New Testament was entombed in the cornerstone of the Japanese Church of Christ in downtown Salt Lake City:

“Donated by Mrs. Hide Hashimoto. Inscribed on the occasion of laying the corner stone. Nov. 2, 1924 A.D. 3 o’clock p.m.”

And Lois Hashimoto’s Bible wasn’t the only one in the box. Her 13-year-old son, Eddie Hashimoto, also put his English-language Bible inside.

“Inscribed on its occasion of laying the corner stone. Sunday, Nov. 2, 1924. 3 o’clock p.m. Donated by the undersigned. Eddie Hashimoto. 315 So 12th East st. Salt Lake City Utah.”

In October, 101 years later, Joy Douglass and Ann Pos saw and held the Bibles belonging to their grandmother and father for the first time. The church extracted the time capsule from the cornerstone of the building. It was no small feat for what turned out to be an oddly shaped, small cast iron box built into a concrete foundation.

“It’s fascinating. It’s wonderful. And I’m glad the church has lasted that long being situated where it is right now downtown,” Pos said. “It’s been vulnerable for many years. When they built the Salt Palace, it was an issue. Now it’s an issue again.”

Pos’ and Douglass’ grandparents Edward Daigoro Hashimoto and Lois Hideko (Hide) Hashimoto helped establish the Japanese Church of Christ in the city in 1918. Its current building was constructed in 1924. Church members commemorated its 100th anniversary a year ago after a months-long renovation project.

What’s inside the time capsule

Like the church itself, the newly opened time capsule connects the past to an uncertain future. The chapel and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple a block away are the only remaining buildings of what was once a thriving Japantown in Salt Lake City. Both hold weekly Sunday services.

The historic red brick church sits in the middle of a planned sports, entertainment, culture and convention district between the Delta Center and Salt Palace Convention Center. Church leaders have spurned offers for the property. Smith Entertainment Group, which is overseeing the multibillion dollar project, has promised to be sensitive to the church’s needs.

Alan Shino, a church elder, wonders what the future holds with “all the dynamics and forces” that are coming down on the Japanese community at the church’s longtime location.

“It’s such a struggle because will we survive a hundred years, especially with the impetus to create this latest, greatest sports area. It’s not dissimilar to what happened when Japantown was destroyed,” he said.

“In some ways, finding that time capsule occurred at the right time because it will give our congregation . . . more of an insight into what we want for our future, what do we do for the next hundred years. ”

In addition to the Bibles, the heavy trapezoidal box contained a hand-stitched Japanese flag and what appears to be an off-the-shelf 48-star American flag; copies of the Japanese-language Rocky Mountain Times and Utah Nippo newspapers, both dated Nov. 1, 1924, and the English-language Salt Lake Tribune dated Nov. 2, 1924; a sheet of silver glitter-trimmed paper with the names of four Sunday School teachers; the church’s articles of incorporation and a brief history of the church, noting the estimated building cost at $30,000.

Lois Hashimoto is listed as a member of the board of trustees on the articles of incorporation.

All of the items were folded and tightly compacted in the thick box, which had a lid sealed with six screws. There was little degradation to the papers and cloth.

The church held an unveiling ceremony Saturday to reveal the contents of the time capsule, but it was opened weeks earlier at the University of Utah’s Marriott Library Preservation Department. The carefully preserved artifacts offer a rare glimpse into the families, faith and community of early Japanese worshipers in Utah.

“They worked so hard with everything that was going on at the time, the racism, the struggles of not knowing the language and just settling . . . that they were able to build this church and look forward, not just for them but for the future generations. So that’s why that time capsule is important,” said Lorraine Crouse, a third-generation church member and trustee.

An unusual box

Crouse, whose parents met in Japantown, had always wondered if there might be a time capsule in the church’s cornerstone.

The church hired a company that used ground penetrating radar technology on the outside of the chapel to determine that there was indeed something inside the cornerstone. Not wanting to damage the exterior of the century-old building, Shino and his friend Mike Friebel, went at it from the inside. They spent 40 hours in all drilling through concrete, removing bricks and cutting rebar in the foundation.

“We didn’t know what we were looking for,” Shino said. “It was just a pain.”

They knew they had something when the drill inadvertently penetrated the sides of the box and some metal shavings came out. They ran an endoscopic camera into the hole and saw what looked like a book. The drill punctured the newspapers but did no further damage to the contents.

The box was encased in concrete as if it was “floating” there, Shino said. “I was just baffled that they would have done it the way they did,” he said. “They hid it well.” After removing all the concrete stuck to the box, Shino said he struck by the shape and weight of the box.

It’s about the size of an old-time lunch pail that tapers at the bottom. It weighed in at 23 pounds.

Crouse, a retired University of Utah photo archivist, took the unopened time capsule to the university’s Marriott Library in late August.

“I’ve never seen a container like that for a time capsule. It’s cast bronze. It’s probably a half-an-inch thick. When you hit it, it rings like a bell,” said Randy Silverman, head of preservation.

“It’s a gorgeous cast piece. The shape is unusual. . . . The amazing part is that it seems like it was actually produced for this purpose.”

Preserving pieces of history

Silverman said the box remained watertight for 101 years and preserved its contents well.

Since opening the time capsule, preservationists washed, de-acidified and flattened the newspapers, humidified and flattened the flags, made boxes for the Bibles and encapsulated the paper documents. They put a binding on the newspapers and flags and put that in a protective sheath. All the items will reside in the church.

“Theoretically, this is the beginning of another time capsule,” Silverman said.

Sarah Shreeves, University of Utah dean of libraries, said the contents not only represent Japanese Americans in the city at the time but carry forward to now.

“I think also it gives us a sense of the continuing importance of faith, the continuing importance of family, of structures like the church in the lives of the community,” she said.

Church members knew the chapel was dedicated in the fall of 1924 but didn’t know the exact date was Nov. 2 until the time capsule was opened.

As a preservationist working in special collections at the university, Crouse said the newspapers were important because they show what was happening at the time.

But Lois Hashimoto’s Bible, the gift from her mother when she left Japan, “really choked me up,” Crouse said. It’s touching that she would give up her Bible hoping the church would be there a hundred years later, she said. “That’s why it means so much to us because we’re the ones that they put it there for.”

Shino said the flags initially struck him as something out of the ordinary.

“When I reflect on it, I think it shows the transition from leaving your home country and going to a new country where you’re going to make your life. You’re doing a transition from the past to your future,” he said.

Japantown’s past and future

Utah has a long history of Japanese immigrants.

First-generation Japanese immigrants — Issei — started arriving in the late 1800s, mostly as railroad, mine and agricultural workers. As the population grew, residences, noodle houses, hotels, rooming and boarding houses, bath houses, variety stores and barber shops lined the streets. In its heyday, an estimated 2,000 to 8,000 people lived in Japantown.

Development of the Salt Palace in the 1960s wiped out the two major blocks at the core of the community. Expansion of the convention center in the 2000s further encroached on the last holdouts — the Japanese Church of Christ and the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple. A small Japanese garden next to the church was installed with the expansion.

“Luckily, we were still able to keep those two spots,” Crouse said. “That to us was sacred ground because that’s where our ancestors settled and that was where they lived and grew up.”

Crouse said the Japanese community has long had plans to revitalize Japantown, noting the annual street festivals and other events. She said she knows it will never be the same but hopes with the latest downtown project it becomes a year-round destination where people could get some homemade noodles or confections or go to a tea house.

Shino said the time capsule is one additional way to the show the Japanese community has existed in Salt Lake City for a long time and its contribution has been substantial.

He looks forward to placing another time capsule in the church but making it more accessible. He wants members of the congregation to think about what they would put inside, what message they would want to send.

“It was exciting,” Shino said of the 101-year-old discovery. “I think the real exciting part is what goes back in.”