And this week they were ceremoniously opened in the cafeteria at the successor hospital, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin St. Joseph's Hospital.
"It smells old," facility services director Dean Pufahl said as he pried open the top of the first copper box.
This capsule, interred in the cornerstone during a 1973 addition, was the newest of the three. On this day it would reveal its secret contents, as would a capsule from a 1945 addition and the original capsule from the hospital's construction in 1929.
Sure, this hospital went a little capsule crazy over the years, and then left them all behind when the complex was sold in 2008 after a new hospital was built a few miles away. Last month, with permission from the building's new owner, Spaulding Clinical, masons were sent over to open the cornerstones and retrieve the treasures of the past.
To build the drama, Pufahl started with the newest box and worked his way to the oldest. He had a hard act to follow. What is believed to be the nation's oldest time capsule was opened in Boston earlier this month. It dated from 1795 when the Massachusetts State House was built. How old is that? Paul Revere rode over to help place it in the cornerstone.
But age is all relative. Pufahl was in the seventh grade when the 1973 capsule was filled with goodies for a future generation to discover. At least 50 hospital employees looked on as he removed the top of the tarnished box and began removing the objects inside and setting them on a table.
CLICK FOR MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment