Matt George is about to earn his bachelor’s degree in history education, but also has shown some potential as a future detective.
The requirements for Professor William Licht’s Teaching Social Studies class include one section in which the job description of a historian is explored. Since they are often asked to solve historical mysteries, Licht presented one of his own.
Where is Old Main’s cornerstone?
The area where the cornerstone once stood is on an east corner of the building nearest to the outdoor courtyard area between Old Main and Century House (under the window of what is now the Information Technology office). Registrar David Hershberger points to the area where the brick and mortar are of a visibly different color in this photo (right).
So, we can see where the cornerstone used to be. But where is it now?
The “University Building” was originally constructed in 1873 and the “Main Building” was added in 1889. Records from the dedications of those buildings indicate the presence of a cornerstone.
But, where is it now?
Approximately 50 students have pursued Licht’s project over the last 10 years, and none had found the answer until George contacted Brother Lawrence Stewart, Midwest Province Archivist of the Brothers of the Holy Cross. The Brothers sold the property of the former Sacred Heart Military Academy to a group of Baptist pastors, led by Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm, in 1968.
Stewart has recently become a good friend of Maranatha. He helped provide information and photographs for Rich in Mercy, the book published last fall celebrating Maranatha’s 40-year anniversary. It was also Stewart who provided the large aerial photograph of the campus, taken in 1963, that now hangs in Old Main Café.
This time, Stewart contributed the solution to Licht’s mystery.
In an email to George, Stewart confirmed that the Brothers of the Holy Cross removed the cornerstone and took it with them to Rolling Prairie, Indiana, when the military academy moved there following the 1968 sale of the Watertown property. A gymnasium and classroom building was scheduled to be constructed at what would later become LeMans Military Academy, and the former Old Main cornerstone (left) became the cornerstone for that new building.
Stewart said the cornerstone was opened before being used. It contained a list of the first graduating class of the University of the Sacred Heart (the predecessor of Sacred Heart Military Academy) as well as a Watertown newspaper from that era. The items were returned to the cornerstone, which was then sealed and used in the new building.
--Posted by Andrew Call, 4-7-09