- April 26, 2024
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It turns out, there are still a few things left to discover here in Ormond Beach.
A renovation of the old Bank of America, 200 E. Granada Blvd., revealed a time capsule from 1959 hidden behind a dedication plaque on the first floor. Inside the capsule — which was just a old, large envelope — were photos of board members, newspaper clippings and documents from when the bank first came to Ormond Beach.
One of the documents found during Selby Realty's remodeling made the case for why Ormond Beach deserved a national bank charter, which included a list of local businesses and their approximate volume of sales. On the list included nostalgic names like the Coquina Hotel ($350,000), the Ormond Hotel ($280,000), and even listed 10 traveling salesmen that were active in the area at the time.
"They didn't go to any great extent to preserve it," CEO of Selby Realty Inc. Dwight Selby laughed. "It was just in the wall."
But the mystery doesn't end there. On the same floor as the time capsule lies something else behind the dry wall. As workers chipped away, they found a tiled wall with a gold clock, surrounded by the Latin phrase "Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis." Translated, it means "the times are changing, and we are changing with them."
"I'm very excited about this," Selby said. "I'm hopeful that whoever we get in here wants to incorporate it into their design."
On the first floor where the time capsule was found, is also home to a four murals of different iconic Ormond Beach locations. The dry wall they are painted on to is started to chip away, and Selby said all the experts he has brought in to remove and save the pieces has told him it is impossible to do. He's still hopeful that the new tenants of the first floor space will want to preserve the local history by keeping it intact.
