104-year-old time capsule found during demolition of an old high school in Minnesota

Finding a time capsule in a home or an old building is quite interesting as it gives a sneak peek into the years of the past. Similarly, the Owatonna Public Schools in Minnesota found one such time capsule from the 1920s in the demolition of their former high school, according to Owatonna People's Press. The capsule's contents were revealed during a press conference in April 2024. Jeff Elstad, Superintendant for the Owatonna Public Schools, called the event "historic" for their community.

Bob Olson, director of facilities, infrastructure, and security at Owatonna Public Schools, started by sharing that 104 years ago, "a group of radical community members decided that they wanted to build the high school in the middle of a field," according to the schools' YouTube video. Eventually, they decided to demolish the building as it was old. He then said that they found the capsule inside the building's cornerstone and he asked crew members to "nicely and carefully" remove it. While talking about the capsule, he said, "I drilled a hole in it earlier this morning, cut a little piece around here and I'm going to finish opening it up because it took about 10 to 15 minutes."

During the conference, he took out all the contents from the box and laid them on the table for viewing. One of the school members read out a document, which enlisted all the articles in the capsule. "It says a list of articles placed in a cornerstone of the new high school building, which cornerstone was laid by the Grand Lodge of Minnesota AF AM on September 30, 1920, MW Edmond Montgomery Grand Master officiating. This is the roaster of all the items that you see within here and it was compiled by Miss Virginia Wood."

Lori Weisenburger, School Board Vice Chair, said, "I'm sure historians will have a ball." The contents included a proposed charter for the city and a list of Owatonna's mayors from 1865 to 1920, reported People's Press. She added that though the documents were intact, they were a bit damp. One interesting content in the capsule was written in Czech and was contributed by one of the Bohemian cultural organizations that existed in Owatonna, according to People's Press. Elstad also displayed a 1920 issue of the school's newspaper, "OHS Magnet" and the headline was, "Big Stride in Owatonna Educational Progress!" There were other items like finance committee reports, and a list of city reporters, including many items from the Minnesota Freemasons, reported CBS News.

Moreover, there were also details about the school at the time. The documents showed that there were about 327 students enrolled in 1920. Elstad said, "Today, we have over 1,500 students at Owatonna High School." "So we've grown." He said they are going to figure out which documents have "a direct tie to the school district." The contents of the capsule will go under curation with the hopes that some of them could be displayed at the new school district office and the high school. The Steele County Historical Society reportedly will also be taking some of the items for curation and display.