During demolition of a building to make way for the new Bancroft School in Wilmington, a piece of history was found buried in the school’s walls.
A time capsule from 1953 was discovered in the date stone of the old Drew Educational Support Center by the Whiting-Turner construction company. After carefully working around the capsule’s original casing and brick, it was turned over to the Christina School District and was opened at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
Whiting-Turner declined to comment leading up to the reveal of the capsule’s contents.
The discovery set off a frenzy on social media and led to speculation about what could have been preserved for the past 70 years.
“People have been trying to guess for days what may be inside the mysterious box found at the Drew building,” Dr. Dan Shelton, district superintendent, said in the days leading up to the reveal.
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Everything was wrapped in newspapers, bound by since-rotted rubber bands.
The first item removed by Shelton was a miniature copy of the New Testament, which the superintendent recognized as Gideon’s version.
Among various paper clippings was a list of the members of the Wilmington Board of Education, school staff and student council members.
Also included was the first newspaper of the Drew School, and an excerpt of meeting minutes from the Wilmington School Building Commission. It listed the total cost of construction of the previous building at $423,000.
The current construction project for the new Bancroft School taking the place of the Drew Education Building is set to cost around $84 million.
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Newspaper clippings from the Wilmington Morning News and the Wilmington Sunday Star dating back to December 1953 were left in the time capsule.
Of most interest to the school board and the public were the multiple shrines to Charles Richard Drew, the legendary doctor and athlete to whom the old Drew Education Building was dedicated. Known for his groundbreaking research in preserving blood plasma, Drew was the first African American to earn a medical doctorate from Columbia University and a gifted athlete.
An article from the Saturday Evening Post about Drew was included in the time capsule, calling him “the best player I ever coached.” Also included inside was Drew’s first place medal for a 120-yard hurdle race from 1929-1930.
Shelton spoke about the significance of finding these pieces of history.
“He doesn’t have any ties to Delaware, but he was an African-American doctor who made amazing progress in blood research,” Shelton said. “It’s important that we recognize those individuals that contributed to society that look like the students that are in our schools, and that’s what Charles Richard Drew was – he was one of those people for our students to aspire to be.”
Shelton also announced plans to build a new time capsule to pass along pieces of modern culture as the city undergoes its first school construction project in over 50 years.
Contact Molly McVety at mmcvety@delawareonline.com.
