Town’s fight for survival revealed by century-old time capsule found in wall

Rev. Andrew Fleishman looks at a century-old time capsule at the Japanese Church of Christ in Salt Lake City - (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

A historian's hunch about what might lie hidden within the walls of a Japanese church in Salt Lake City has led congregants to uncover a century-old snapshot of a once vibrant Japantown now fighting for survival.

Elders at the 101-year-old Japanese Church of Christ — one of only two remaining buildings in the city’s Japantown — drilled through brick, concrete and rebar to extract a metal box from the building’s cornerstone.