Outta Time: Quest to find time capsule leaves searchers empty handed

DIXON – Al Capone’s vault it was not, yet the results were much the same.

Goodfellows of Lee County took over the former Lincoln Avenue Church of God in Dixon in January 2022. The building was constructed, steeple and all, in 1965. Word around the campfire was there was a time capsule tucked away inside the steeple.

When Goodfellows took over, they wanted to give the church, now Grace Point, back the cross that heralded its purpose for so many years.

“We were still being mistaken as a church and we wanted to give them back the cross for their new building,” said Clara Harris, director of Goodfellows of Lee County.

On Wednesday, a small contingent of church parishioners and Goodfellow workers watched as Keith Persico and Adam Benford of Boss Roofing out of Rock Falls started deconstructing the steeple. Years of weather, a few hand tools and bit of old-fashioned physical gumption made removal pretty easy.

But where was the time capsule?

The duo at first peeked down into the base, but saw rotted wood and little else. Next they checked the steeple itself – nothing but space and 58-year-old darkness.

Word circulated through the ground-dwellers that maybe it was rolled up and placed inside a heavy steel pipe that acted as an anchor point for the steeple. So down it came.

The pipe was a two-parter, so hopes were high Geraldo Rivera wasn’t lurking around the corner and, in fact, the elusive capsule was jammed all up in there.

Keith took the first crack at popping the top on the pipe. With sledge in hand and more than a few smacks, the tubes started to separate. Wielding a heavy hammer will take it out of a person after a while.

Adam then stepped up to the plate and after several more whacks the tubes let loose their grip. A few taps produced rusty gunk but nothing worth remembering.

Hopes were still high when Joel Wiseman, 58, of Dixon, son of a former pastor of the church, first peered into the void.

Nothing.

Hopes were all but dashed. One last look inside the northern section of pipe revealed the same.

Nothing.

All is not in vain, though.

The new church, located out near Sauk Valley Community College, gets its relic back, Goodfellows will no longer be mistaken for a house of God, and Geraldo just might sleep a little more smugly.

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Adam Benford (left) and Keith Persico of Boss Roofing peel back the aging wood on the steeple on the former Lincoln Ave. Church of God Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. The cross will be saved and given to the now Grace Point Church in Dixon. (Alex T. Paschal)