BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Donning hard hats and bright-colored vests, the group armed with jackhammers stumbled on a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, an old student ID card and a fossil.
Those were just some of the relics found by construction workers as they were drilling and tearing down walls of Lehigh University's Clayton University Center at Packer Hall.
The building, built in 1868 and the oldest on campus, is undergoing a massive renovation to make way for a new student center.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2025.
Drawings, fossils
According to the university, the rooms were once used as dormitories but were sealed off in 1956 during another renovation.
Among the findings were portraits etched into the walls, alongside ham radio codes and seemingly former students’ initials and first names.
The old drawings appear to be of Lehigh’s first engineering professors — Hugh Wilson Harding, known for his signature mustache, and former university President Henry Coppee, the university said in a story published in the spring edition of its Alumni bulletin.
In 1883, Harding, a physics and mechanical professor, was one of the founders of the school’s electrical engineering program.
The second drawing, of Coppee, depicts him with a billowing white beard and matching 'stache.
It’s unclear when the drawings were made or who etched them.
“The archivists’ job is without any judgment, without prejudice, without any discrimination to preserve evidence of the university’s history. In this case, in a moment of time, at a certain point of time, a group of people were there and they sent a message to the future generations without knowing.”Ilhan Citak, archives and Special Collections librarian, Lehigh University
Secret rooms, old beer cans
As the workers drilled deeper, they also found a small brick fireplace underneath layers of material taken from the first floor, the university wrote.
In addition, above the fourth-floor ceiling, handcrafted wood railing and stairs leading up to the original fifth floor were revealed.
The original south exterior stone walls were exposed after being covered up during a renovation in 1956, the university said.
Other items discovered: glass soda bottles, old beer cans, a projection screen logbook from 1961, bulbs for the projector, monogrammed sterling silver cutlery, old student identification cards and hand-cut nails from the 1800s, said project manager Jim LaRose, of Boyle Construction.
Workers also found two fossils, which the university says once were displayed in the Asa Packer room when it housed a museum.
Two-year project
All the items found during the renovation were given to Lehigh’s Special Collections Department to preserve.
For those unaware that the fifth-floor rooms and images existed, opening the rooms is like opening a time capsule, Ilhan Citak, Archives and Special Collections librarian, told the Alumni bulletin.
“The archivists’ job is without any judgment, without prejudice, without any discrimination to preserve evidence of the university’s history,” he said. “In this case, in a moment of time, at a certain point of time, a group of people were there and they sent a message to the future generations without knowing.”
Unfortunately, the secret/discovered rooms will be closed up again, as there is no way to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, LaRose said.
The two-year project began in 2022 and cost $70 million. It includes the renovation and preservation of the historic elements of the building.
In a nod to the findings, a time capsule will be embedded into the wall of the west lobby on the first floor of the Clayton UC next year, officials said.
The capsule is slated to be opened in 2075 — 50 years after the renovations are completed.
