Amid a copper tin box sealed shut for decades lay a host of pictures, letters and other items — documenting history for one local organization: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tampa Bay.
This nonprofit focuses on preparing "young people for school, career and life," according to its website. It officially began in 1926 when the Tampa Rotary Club founded the West Tampa Boys Club. This would be the first Boys & Girls Club in the state.
What began as one club quickly expanded into a regional movement to increase opportunities for youth. Its name has evolved over the last century. The current iteration became official last year when Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and the Suncoast merged.
And now, the organization is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. As part of this, it's hosting a timeline exhibit of the past 100 years at the Tampa Bay History Center through the end of November.
A moment in time discovered
It was during an archive search for this exhibit that staff stumbled upon a time capsule — found as a copper box welded shut.
The organization's chief marketing officer, Cassandra Thomas, told "Florida Matters Live & Local" that they had no idea of the contents since nothing about the exterior gave them an indication of what was inside. But it piqued their curiosity, so they shook it a little bit and decided to pry it open.
Although it took quite a while to open it, once they did, they saw pieces from the Interbay Boys Club ribbon-cutting ceremony.
It formally opened in 1962, and 500 boys signed up within the first 45 minutes, she said. As part of the ceremony, staff put together a time capsule they sealed within the walls of the building.
"We somehow later stumbled upon it when we relocated our services, and it has been in storage ever since," Thomas said.
The items were slightly moldy, showing their age, but were "surprisingly in excellent shape."
"Whoever welded that box shut did a very good job of making sure to preserve those artifacts," she continued.
Some items included photographs. There was also a telegram from former U.S. President Herbert Hoover, by then in his 26th year as board chairman of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He was elected to the post in 1936, three years after his presidential term.
"There was a cigar, which is very telling of the community of Tampa," Thomas said. "There was a working agenda from the former executive director at the time, Charles Stretch Murphy, and just so many other very cool items that were very telling of that era."
Another iteration of this organization was the Boys Club of Tampa. Glenn Permuy was the CEO in the 1970s. He said he took over when he was 27 years old and does not remember hearing about the time capsule.
But learning about the discovered contents sure brought back memories.
Serving kids for generations
"I was working at the organization at the time, but not as a CEO. I remember that club being open. I remember that being our third club following the opening of the West Tampa Club and the Ybor City Club," he recalled.
He added that "everybody wanted to go to the Interbay Club" because it had a swimming pool, rifle range, gymnasium and a lot of outdoor space.
When he looks back at the trove of items, he also remembers Charles Stretch Murphy. He said the name "Stretch" fit because the former CEO was known for his height, standing at about six-foot-seven.
"Played basketball professionally and in college, and just someone that we would all look up to literally and because of his cachet with everything he did in the community," he said. "But yeah, every time I see the word 'Stretch Murphy' or see what he made a difference in a lot of kids' lives."
When it comes to incorporating both girls and boys into the organization, Permuy explained how it used to be two separate entities until the early '80s. There used to be Boys Club of America and a Girls Club of America. The latter changed its name to Girls Inc. and the Boys Clubs changed the name to Boys & Girls Club.
"Even before they encouraged local clubs to serve girls, we did that," he added. "We were one of the first clubs — if not the first club to serve young ladies."
But as he looks back on his time as CEO, a favorite memory of his time is seeing "smiles on the kids' faces every day when you went to the club." It did not matter whether it was the Interbay Club or the other two operating at the time. He recalls seeing the kids look up to the staff as mentors for them.
"The fact that kids from the other two clubs would go to the Interbay Club to swim because it's the only one that has a swimming pool and it was like a field trip," Permuy said. "It was just a really smaller number of clubs at the time, but great family atmosphere. So those are the things that resonate with me."
Overall, Thomas said it was fascinating to see how the organization evolved and adapted over the years through the items they found and newspaper clippings — showing how it has made a difference in the Tampa Bay community for generations.
"It truly is priceless to be able to see and hold on to something that is such a vital part of this organization's history as a nonprofit, and to be celebrating 100 years is just so incredible," she said. "I don't know many organizations that can say that and hold true to that."
The exhibit is free and open to the public through Nov. 30. It's located in the third-floor gallery space at the Tampa History Center.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Matthew Peddie for "Florida Matters Live & Local." Listen to the full episode here.
