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A century ago a stamp cost 2 cents; fashionable women didn't leave their homes without a decorated, broad-brimmed hat; and construction was just beginning on an unprecedented marvel called the Titanic.
The year was 1909, and members of the new Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Landisville buried a metal time capsule to be opened in 100 years.
Those years have passed, and current members of the church recently opened that box, roughly the size of a shoe box. It lay in the cornerstone of the church and had to be drilled out through bricks by a contractor.
In the box, members found 11 newspapers dated from 1909, coins from the turn of the century, a Bible and a book of worship.
Burnell Hostetter, of the church's centennial celebration committee, said those who buried the box left written instructions for its opening.
Newspapers found included four from Lancaster, one from Landisville, two from Columbia and one from Manheim.
"They were yellow with age, but easy to read," Hostetter said, adding that they handled them with gloves to "further save this piece of history."
The church will hold centennial services through March 2010 to celebrate its founding, traditions and 100-year existence.
"We are very excited at looking at these items from long ago," Hostetter said. "In fact, we are now going to do the same thing!"
Church members will bury a marble box in March, with items to be unearthed in another 100 years.
They will hold a special service for the capsule's burial, including having a bishop from the Lower Susquehanna Synod preside over the ceremony.
Hostetter said they are leaving the decision of what items to bury to the church's youth group.
"It's all up to them," Hostetter said. "They are certainly the ones that have the best chance of being here in another 100 years."
Mandy Stoltzfus is a Sunday News staff writer. E-mail her at mstoltzfus@lnpnews.com.
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