West Valley City • For more than four decades, a small piece of West Valley City history sat buried — and submerged in murky water — beneath a meetinghouse for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 4100 South.

It was supposed to stay buried there for another four years.

But with the meetinghouse set to be torn down as part of a Bangerter Highway project, people gathered Saturday to open the time capsule, which had been sealed away since Aug. 5, 1980.

After the rusted metal box was pulled from beneath the concrete leading up to the church entrance, people eagerly waiting for Jordan North 6th Ward Bishop Brent Newton to open it called out what they thought might be inside.

One person guessed a brooch. Another guessed a stake directory.

Inside were other reminders of the church’s past, including lists of names from church records, a copy of the Church News from 1980 celebrating the church’s 150th anniversary, a conference T-shirt that said “Do it right now,” photographs of former church leaders and other old documents preserved for future generations to cherish.

After the capsule was opened, Newton and Jordan North 5th Ward Bishop Steve Jester carefully cleaned black sludge from the plastic bags encasing the items.

“I probably should be wearing a mask,” Newton joked. “Gloves, probably, too.”

For many of the people who gathered Saturday, the moment was bittersweet. They had grown up attending services at the church, and built memories in the surrounding West Valley City neighborhood.

Now they are watching as the meetinghouse, along with many homes and several businesses nearby, are leveled to make way for the highway project that is reshaping this part of the west side.

For some longtime residents, the changes have meant watching neighbors move away and familiar places disappear.

Dennis Adams was there when the time capsule was buried in 1980, shortly before the church was dedicated. He served as bishop from 1979 to 1984 and has lived in the neighborhood since 1972.

His house isn’t being torn down, but Adams said about 15 homes nearby already have been.

“Losing this building — I mean, that’s progress — but it’s been such a major part of our lives for so many years,” said Georgette Bevan, whose backyard sits across from the church parking lot. She watched the meetinghouse go up from her back window.

Plans for the final stretch

The Utah Department of Transportation has spent more than a decade removing traffic lights along Bangerter Highway and replacing intersections with interchanges, with the eventual goal of turning the highway into a freeway.

The church sits within the last stretch of the Bangerter corridor slated for the transformation, running from 4100 South in West Valley City north to California Avenue in Salt Lake City.

UDOT split that work into two phases so it could move ahead with the southern portion, between 4100 South and Parkway Boulevard, while it looks for funding to finish the rest of the corridor up to California Avenue.

As of March, UDOT said it was working on a preliminary design and acquiring the properties it needs to finish the project. The agency said that process was expected to continue through 2027.

In addition to razing the church, plans for the final stretch involve relocating residents of 239 homes in West Valley City, leveling eight businesses and building over a park. Construction would also partially cut into another 124 properties.

While losing the church as a “home base” is difficult for many in the neighborhood, Newton said what matters most are the memories people made there over the past 46 years.

And, he pointed out, if Bangerter Highway had been built this way from the beginning, “the church never would have been here.”

Correction, Sunday, 10:24 a.m. • An earlier version of this article misidentified the wards where Newton and Jester serve.