Did you know Keehner Park contains a time capsule?
About 40 years ago, our community buried a time capsule on the east side of the park, 7411 Barret Road, at the base of a flagpole in the monument garden between the baseball/softball fields and tennis/basketball/pickleball courts.
There affixed to a cement base is a plaque, which reads:
“Beneath this plaque is a time capsule of historical information dedicated to the future citizens of Union Township and to be opened 2085 A.D.”
The plaque includes the names of those who were serving on the West Chester (Union Township) Park Board – John Freeman, Chairman; Mary Hamen; Harriett Hillman; Frank Knapke, Jr.; Jeff Lowe; Bettie McGinnis; and Marcellus Osner. It’s dated July 7, 1985, meaning the contents were intended to remain undisturbed for a period of 100 years.
Also on the plaque is a quote attributed to John Muir: “As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll acquaint myself with the wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.”
John Muir was an internationally recognized naturalist who is celebrated for his conservation efforts in the late 19th and early 20th century. He’s considered by many to be the Father of the US National Park System. The modest gesture to associate Muir with Keehner Park in this small way feels prescient now, almost half a century later, considering how our park naturally combines many of the best elements of something like a national/state park with the charming qualities of a modern, city/suburban greenspace that it is.
Amenities at Keehner Park include an impressive network of creekside trails, reservable picnic shelters and playground equipment, plus a covered amphitheater stage and the historic Cabin in the Clearing. The latter resources enrich efforts by Township staff to host well-loved activities like regular children’s nature programs and cherished community events, such as the annual Keehner Park Concert Series throughout the summer and The Great Pumpkin Fest in October. Township events and programs are free.
Keehner Park came to fruition in 1976 when the Board of Trustees procured more than 100 acres of land from the family of John S. and Hilda B. Keehner. Support for establishing public parks in our community aligned with the exponential growth of our residential population, which nearly doubled every decade from 1950 to 1980, culminating in the West Chester boom of the 1990s and 2000s.
Bob McGuire, former director of the Community Services Department who worked for the Township for 40 years through that era, remembers Keehner Park in its infancy.
“We did a lot of things back then ourselves,” Bob said in a recent interview for West Chester TV’s Community Storytellers series. He managed the crew responsible for duties like clearing out invasive brush; mapping and paving the parking areas; installing electricity for lighting and running water for restrooms; building picnic tables and shelters; and carefully grading the amphitheater’s pavilion seating out of what was a banked hillside.
The Keehner Park monument garden was the work of Bob’s crew, too. He recalls how his team undertook the Herculean feat of relocating three giant stones from their original earthly location by the railroad bridge near Maud, just north of Tylersville Road, to their current place on the east side of the 123-acre park.
“I think in front of the center stone is a time capsule. We put it in there,” Bob said.
So, what’s inside? If Bob knows, he’s not telling.
Most of us will never have the privilege of seeing the Keehner Park time capsule opened, but you can help us decide what goes inside our bicentennial capsule! A new time capsule will be buried and dedicated at a different location later this year to celebrate our community’s 200th birthday.
Take a few minutes to complete a quick questionnaire and tell us your 2023 West Chester time capsule ideas. Please also let us know if you’d like to share your story in a future episode of our Community Storytellers oral history series.