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Artifacts have been found in the hole.

CORSICANA - Just when you think you know your city, a hole opens up, revealing a hidden history buried for decades.

People in Corsicana are learning a little more about their past and what an interesting past they have.

The 1920s-style street front stores that line downtown Corsicana capture a portrait in time. Below the streets, there’s a portrait in time that hasn't seen the light of day in quite some time.

Bill Young is a volunteer Archeological Steward with the Texas Historical Commission in Navarro County.

"The artifacts that are coming out range all the way from the 1850s to about 1920," he said.

Artifacts like an 1880 Anheuser Busch bottle, an 1829 arrest warrant for gambling, old ivory-handled brushes, and an iron hair-straightening comb, and a rare solid gold two-faced U.S./Argentina coin that was minted by mistake in 1881 and 1884, have all been buried underneath the building Rick Hocker has owned for 20 years.

"We had the heads up that there might possibly be something underneath the building, we had always hoped that there would be something, but never dreamed when they ripped the sidewalks up, would we find what was actually there," Hocker said.

Three brick archways, believed to be a doorway and two windows, were unearthed early Tuesday morning by construction crews rebuilding downtown Corsicana's sidewalks.

After more digging, both in the dirt and through historical documents, Hocker found out that underneath his restaurant, the Black Jack Mccandless Steak House and Saloon on Beaton Street, was originally the Bismarck saloon in 1872 - it came in shortly after the railroad came into Navarro County.

Margarett Parsons owns an antique shop next door. She has an old picture of what the Bismarck may have looked like inside. She describes the black and white photograph with a man dressed in a bowtie, "That was my grandfather, and he was bartender at one of the bars that was in this block, but I’m not sure which building."

Young says the basement saloon predates prohibition. After some initial research, he believes the street-level floor of the Bismarck burned down, and the basement was filled in with dirt, and covered with concrete. Exactly when, he’s not sure. He also says there have been rumors that there are other underground rooms just like this one, and that there are tunnels that connect the rooms, “We don't know what's here. We just touched the surface."

Digging beyond the surface is expected to take about 30 days. But with so many armchair archeologists on the job, it may not take that long. Some have stayed up at late as 2 a.m. digging in the dirt. "We all have a little Indiana Jones in all of us, it's brought that out in our community. We have 44,000 Indiana Jones here that all want to help us dig the dirt out," says Hocker.

Lifetime Corsicana resident Sirvella Monie is lining up to be one of the first to help shovel, "We'll I’m going to shovel a little dirt when they let me. I want to see first! Want to see first! See what we're going to bring up" she said.

Hocker was in the middle of renovating his restaurant before this discovery was made. He now plans to completely excavate the basement, and turn it into a wine cellar or private room for his restaurant.

E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com.