Records of the grand opening of the new facility are not clear, as many were lost in a fire somewhere along the way. So it is not known if anything was placed in the building’s cornerstone as a message to future generations.
Saturday afternoon, that mystery will be solved. The cornerstone will be opened for the building at 6 p.m. during the Easley July 4 celebration. The contents will be examined, and new items will be added as the cornerstone is re-sealed.
“100 years from now, people will have a glimpse of what we are seeing right now,” said Patrick Gallo, one of the event’s organizers.
The building was used as Easley High School, when a new facility at the school’s current location on Pendleton Street was completed.
Ironically, as the cornerstone is being checked for the 1909 Easley High School, further down Pendleton Street, near the Anderson County line, constuction continues on a new Easley High School complex.
During the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the 1909 building was used as a factory. Eventually the building was abandoned and fell into poor conditions. During the 1980s and early 1990s, there was talk of condemning the building and having it demolished as it had become a hazard due to its continue deteriation.
In the late 1990s, efforts were made to save the historic building. Renovation efforts eventually led to the building being turned in to luxery condomeniums.
A second cornerstone to the building was used to store items donated by the final graduating class of Easley High School to use the facility in 1939. That cornerstone will not be opened, Gallos said, as organizers want to wait 30 years for the 100th anniversary of the cornerstone.
Gallo is collecting possible items to be placed in the cornerstone Saturday. He can be reached at admmp@msm.com.
The 1909 building, now called, “Cornerstone 1909,” will have a two-hour open house immediately preceeding the ceremony to open the original cornerstone.
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