58-Year-Old Time Capsule from City Hall Annex Building Opened

Nearly 60 years ago, a new City Hall building was being built downtown along Bay Street.

As part of the dedication ceremony for the building, then-Mayor Haydon Burns sealed a time capsule inside of the building’s framework.

With the aging building – now known as the former City Hall Annex building – set to be torn down to make way for a convention center, pre-demolition work recently uncovered this capsule. And yesterday, Mayor Lenny Curry and City Council President Aaron Bowman opened the copper time capsule, revealing an interesting collection of items.

Among the contents of the box was a letter penned by Burns, addressed to whomever the mayor is at the time of the capsule’s opening.

“It is our hope,” Burns wrote, “that you, on the day of the opening of this cornerstone, will reflect favorably and with a degree of appreciation on the efforts of those citizens present on this day of dedication of this City Hall whose endeavors have been directed toward making our city, and now your city, a better place to reside in all respects, just as we, in turn, with grateful hearts reflect on those who have passed this way before us.”

Some of the other things found inside the capsule:

• City council documents
• Documents relating to the commissioning of the new city hall building
• A pack of Pall Mall cigarettes
• A pamphlet detailing the city’s new Expressway System
• A newspaper from 1907
• An inter-office telephone directory
• Photos of county commissioners
• Photos of the building’s chamber
• Clippings and a video of media coverage of the dedication

Once it’s all sorted through in detail and properly preserved, the items discovered will be displayed in the Main Library downtown.

You can watch a video recap of the capsule opening below: