The sight of the old Deaconess Center overlooking the Kensington Expressway will soon be a thing of the past. As part of the demolition process, employees of the facility took a look back in time to when their former workplace opened nearly 100 years ago.
When the Deaconess Center closed, the nursing home's residents and staff moved into the brand new HighPointe on Michigan Avenue across from Buffalo General Medical Center. To mark the one-year anniversary, a few dozen employees gathered at High Point Monday to open a time capsule from the cornerstone of what was originally the Deaconess German Hospital.
"I thought that it was pretty cool. I think the first thing that ran through my mind was what was important way back then," said administrator Dawn Gammack. "The cornerstone says 1895 but it also says it was erected in 1911. So it was unclear what we were going to find inside from what year."
Gammack and Director of Long Term Care Michael Murphy carefully removed a small pile of disintegrated letter-sized papers and several newspapers from September 1911. They cost one cent.
Gammack, who spent 25 years at Deaconess, also had a hand in making up the time capsule that went into the cornerstone at HighPointe.
"I thought how apropos that it's the closing of one story and the opening of another."
