Petrolia Plants Time Capsule
Forty-Nine Years Down - One to Go!
This article appeared in the Butler Eagle on Wednesday, July 25, 1973.
Mementos of Petrolia’s centennial year were preserved for posterity last week with the burying of a time capsule at the borough honor roll. The stainless steel capsule is to be reopened in 2023.
Participating in the time capsule ceremonies were Petrolia Mayor Don Bullman; Petrolia physician Dr. Earl L. Mortimer; centennial committee member Eugene Blair: Butler County Commissioner Leon Grant Jr.; Joseph McCloskey, director of the Butler County Bureau of Children’s Services: and the Rev. Irwin Suplee, pastor of the First Lutheran Church of Chicora.
Also on hand were centennial queen Linda Friters, the American Legion Color Guard and the McGinnis Group of singers which presented the “Star Spangled Banner” and entertained with music from “West Side Story”.
Items placed in the capsule included centennial souvenirs, pictures of the centennial queen crowning, a program for the centennial year, registration book from Museum Week, a first edition of the Butler County News, information on the early oil boom days supplied by historian Lenn G. McCorry of Herman, newspaper clippings, pictures and write-ups about Petrolia and names of families living in the borough.
The hole in which the capsule was buried was dug by West Penn Power Co., Witco Chemical Co. furnished material and labor to construct the capsule. The marble headstone marking the capsule location was donated by Richard Hillis.
The committee which planned the centennial celebration includes: Lloyd E. Sheakley, chairman; Thomas M. Dunn, treasurer: Arthur Rossiter: Donald (Tops) Shakley; Ardale Stroup and Eugene Blair.
Centennial festivities continued throughout the week.
The article was submitted by a Progress News reader.