Inman Woman Started Search

Mrs. Bernice Brown, 70

MRS. BERNICE BROWN

Father Superintendent

The diligence of Mrs. Bernice Brown, 70, of Inman bore fruit today in a historic ceremony at Spartanburg County's new courthouse.

It was Mrs. Brown who last September pointed out that county officials had overlooked one important matter in the myriad of details in getting the new courthouse ocnstructed and occupied.

This important detail - a metal container in a cornerstone - due to Mrs. Brown was attended to and today it divulged important facts about the county prior to the turn of the century.

In 1891, when the old Courhouse was completed, Mrs. Brown was very young, but she vividly recalled that her father was superintendent during the construction of the building. She also recalled hearing him discuss a cornerstone and its contents.

Following Mrs. Brown's lead, county officials sought the heirloom. Time had obliterated its location, but others joined in the search. Finally it was found about a foot underground at the northeast corner of the old building.

Minutes of Spartan Masonic Lodge 70 confirmed the fact that the cornerstone existed and that it has been installed with all the pomp of Masonic rites.

During the search, Mrs. Brown, still convinced she was right, made an early morning tour around the courthouse seeking the cornerstone. When she didn't find it, she still maintained "It's there."

Today's opening of the box has proved her memory right.

In September, she said she recalled the cornerstone contained metal plates from a courthouse which stood in Morgan Square, a couple of coins, copies of the local newspaper, a small bottle of locally manufactured rye whisky, a few grains of rye and wheat and a number of photographs. No whisky was found today.

The photographs were of Mrs. Brown's father, A.J. Caldwell, Joe Howell and Charlie Barry, County Commissioners at the time, and Sheriff John Nichols.

Mrs. Brown wanted data and other contents of the cornerstone recovered and preserved for future generations. She suggested that whatever it contains be placed in an appropriate place in the new courthouse as a memorial to the old building and its builders.