The demolition of a church in Edmonton turned up some unexpected pieces of history.

Knox Metropolitan United Church on 109th Street was brought down Tuesday.

During the demolition, workers discovered that two of the church’s cornerstones were hiding time capsules.

“We didn’t have any record that there were time capsules,” church member Steve Hoskin told CTV Edmonton.

One capsule dates back to 1942, when the church was built. The other is from 1907. Developer Dave Dyrbye said that box likely came from a previous church which was built in 1907 and later burned down. Its bricks were used to build the church that was demolished this week.

“There are a lot of memories underneath that pile of rubble,” Hoskin said.

Both boxes contain an assortment of newspapers and other documents. City historian David Johnston examined the files and said they reflected “news of the time, membership of the time, maybe some of the issues the church was facing.”

One booklet, titled “Mr. Jay – Our First Martyr in Western China”, refers to a Canadian Methodist mission to China.

Church members say they sold the property to the developer because their congregation had been steadily dwindling in recent years, while the building itself was in need of significant repairs.

Construction of a nine-storey condo building will begin at the site next spring.

With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson