Owatonna, Minnesota, residents took part in a historic event on Monday after construction workers found a 104-year-old time capsule.
The construction workers found a silver box in the rubble of a demolition project as they were tearing down the front pillars and doors of the Owatonna High School, Fox 9 reported Thursday.
The capsule, which has everyone in the area excited, was buried in 1920 in the high school’s cornerstone, said Jeff Elstad, the school district’s superintendent.
“It’s always exciting to learn more about the history of our community and the people who had the foresight to build a great school that would serve so many students for generations,” he added.
A photo shows the cornerstone with the capsule resting on top of it. The box appears to be in good condition:
When officials opened the box, they pulled out several items, such as a roster of the school’s teachers and administrators, a copy of the high school newspaper, three local newspapers, and other documents.
Moments before revealing the box’s contents in the presence of local officials, the man who performed the task said he asked construction workers to remove the 1920 cornerstone carefully because authorities wanted to cut off the front and save it.
“I said, ‘While you do that, be really careful and flip it over and see if there’s anything inside it.’ And sure enough, they called me, and I walked up and saw this was inside the cornerstone,” he explained while lifting the box and setting it on a table.
“Really, really cool to see,” he added, then proceeded to take the lid off the box and remove its contents. Readers can click here to watch the entire video.
An image shows the documents laid out on a table:
“While you never know exactly what might be included, many of the items, such as newspapers and local history, are typical of what is included in a time capsule,” Elstad commented. “It was especially fun to discover the items that specifically shared information about the schools at that time.”
Following the discovery, the Owatonna High School Museum Committee joined forces with the Steele County Historical Society to work on preserving the items found in the box.
Some of the treasures will be displayed at the school, and others will be placed in the society’s collections.
“We are really excited to have something like this preserved for that long and then be able to open it up and share with the community as it was actually just being unveiled,” Owatonna High School Principal Cory Kath told KEYC.
“For a lot of us, it was the idea that, first of all, it was well preserved and the fact that it got to tell a story,” he added.