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St. Michael’s Slovak History Saved in Time Capsule

JESSUP — Catholic Social Services in Lackawanna County broke ground Monday on a new senior housing facility in the mid-valley. But first, the group took a...

JESSUP -- Catholic Social Services in Lackawanna County broke ground Monday on a new senior housing facility in the mid-valley. But first, the group took a look back almost 100 years to the last time something was built on that spot, a school.

A small crowd of people gathered at the site of that now demolished school in Jessup. Diocese of Scranton officials were set to break ground on a new senior housing facility with the typical hard hats and gold shovels.

But the people were most interested in a small copper box. It was a time capsule found in the old school's cornerstone.

In it were several coins and notes left from 1924 when St. Michael's School on Second Avenue was built.

But there was one problem: the notes were written in Slovak, a language not too commonly heard in the mid-valley these days.

But when Bernerd Skovira of Jessup was a student at St. Michael's, Slovak was part of the curriculum. Skovira helped translate and read off a list of parishioners who were at the groundbreaking almost a century ago.

The neighborhood has changed a bit since then. Because of that, Catholic Social Services decided to repurpose the site of the old school. It will build 31 senior apartments appropriately called St. Michael's on the Hill.

But the Diocese thought, you can't look forward without looking back a bit.

"So many buildings don't have a time capsule. It's always nice to have some information on the building. It is historical in nature. The building's been here since 1924," said Stephen Nocilla of Catholic Social Services.

Nocilla said St. Michael's on the Hill should be open by this time next year. And after this experience, officials are thinking about putting a time capsule in the new building.

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