Gainesville Supervisor Peter Candland gathered with others in the community in front of Haymarket’s old firehouse on 14941 Washington Ave. to open a time capsule from 1946, revealing an issue of The Manassas Messenger newspaper.
The cover of the newspaper revealed the front-page headline: “BOCS Okays $252,000 Program for Secondary Roads.”
Other stories included “Region Post Asks That Armistice Day Holiday Be Abolished,” “Quantico Chamber Buys Land for Halloween Program,” “Women’s Club Joins Drive to Save Trees,” and “Red Cross Appeals for House Wife’s Help.” On the second side of the paper were sports scores, including those from Osbourne High School.
Along with the issue of the newspaper, the small time capsule included a few coins from 1946 and an attached paper that hardly survived. County preservationist Robert Krause thought the paper included the names of the town council members, but the list was mainly illegible because of the poor condition of the paper.
According to Haymarket Mayor David Leake, Congressman Howard W. Smith (b. 1883-d. 1976) sealed the Haymarket firehouse time capsule in the cornerstone of the firehouse building October 23, 1946, when it was first constructed.
“That ceremony had been witnessed by a great gathering of people,” Leake said.
Before that time, the Haymarket Telephone Switchboard had occupied the property until their building burned down in 1945. Perhaps the burning of the switchboard office alerted officials to the need for another fire station on the western side of the county.
Prince William County Department of Fire & Rescue Service Chief Kevin McGee said that at the time of its opening in 1946, the nearest fire station was in the City of Manassas, and the Haymarket station was only the third fire station in Prince William County with the other two located the eastern side of the county. While the population was a fraction of the size in 1946 with just 20,000 people, the distance across the region still provided a challenge for fire departments.
McGee used his time at the podium to honor the fire fighters who served the Haymarket and Gainesville communities in the last century.
“These were not just random people who showed leadership, but true servants who put their lives on the line to protect their neighbors,” McGee said.
McGee said the firehouse also served as a gathering place and a safe haven for the community.
According to the Fire Chief, the Haymarket firehouse continued to be operational until 1990 when the new Evergreen Fire Station opened on Route 55. The capsule was opened since the property was sold and would soon be the new location of a bakery and wine bar.
“We had no idea there was a time capsule in this building; we were just as surprised (as everyone else),” McGee said.
The discovery of the time capsule followed a search for another alleged document possibly lost to time.
According to former Haymarket Mayor Pam Stutz, she had heard a rumor that the land lease on the firehouse property might revert back to the town, and so asked town employees to research the history of the firehouse.
While they never found the deed they were looking for, they did find evidence that a time capsule was placed within the cornerstone of the building, and thus town leaders decided it would have to be unearthed before the property was converted to a private enterprise.
Before the opening of the capsule, McGee pointed out the vast differences between today and 1946. In 1946, the average household income in the United States was only $2,500, and minimum wage was only 30 cents, and “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” topped the charts as the most popular song that year.
Other officials who attended the time capsule ceremony included Delegate Bob Marshall and Deputy Chief Gregory Breeden of the Town of Haymarket.
More fire fighters planned on attending the ceremony but were called to duty, fighting a fire on property owned by Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington.
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