The Vashon Island Cornerstone
On a Tuesday in May, island residents gathered to lay the foundation for the first Methodist Episcopal Church on Vashon Island, embedding a time capsule of 1886 history into the earth.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Tuesday of this week, the foundation was laid for the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Vashon Island. A large and intelligent audience gathered at the site for the new church at 3 o'clock p.m., when a sermon on 'Altar Building' was delivered by Rev. L. A. Banks, which was followed by an address by Rev. J. N. Denison on 'A Century’s Growth of Methodism,' after which the services connected with laying the foundation were conducted by the pastor, Rev. F. Ailward. There was deposited in the foundation a tin box containing a 'Directory of the Vashon M. E. Church,' 'Minutes of Puget Sound Conference,' and of 'First Session Seattle District Ministerial Association,' a copy of the Pacific Christian Advocate, the Daily Post-Intelligencer of May 12th, the Puget Sound Samaritan and Prohibitionist, and other papers. The church will be 24x36 feet, and when completed, which will be as soon as possible, will be a great accommodation to the island people.
“There was deposited in the foundation a tin box containing... a copy of the Daily Post-Intelligencer of May 12th.”
Long before Vashon became a bedroom community for commuters, its residents were stitching together a civic fabric through physical infrastructure like this church. It’s a reminder that even as the island’s identity shifts, the local impulse to establish community hubs remains a constant feature of Puget Sound life.
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