Ind. city looks for time capsule that time forgot

[September 11, 2008]  ELKHART, Ind. (AP) -- Call it the time capsule that time forgot.

A city committee voted recently to open a time capsule buried in 1958, when the city was celebrating its centennial. The plan was to display the items, then add modern ones and rebury it until 2058.

Trouble is, no one seems to know exactly where the capsule is.

Several committee members thought the capsule was buried in a park -- but the capsule there was buried in the 1970s to commemorate the U.S. bicentennial celebration.

Committee member Paul Thomas doubts the 1958 capsule exists since it wasn't mentioned in detailed committee meeting minutes from that year or an extensive centennial brochure.

Mary Jo Weyrick, the city council's administrative assistant, tracked down one resident who remembers the celebration 50 years ago and said the capsule may be buried on the corner of Main and High streets.

If it's there, it may not be dug up any time soon because that stretch of sidewalk was recently replaced as part of a streetscaping project.

Meanwhile, the city is still planning to create a 2008 time capsule. Weyrick said she will note the new capsule's location in city council records, the public library and anywhere else people might look for that information in the future.

"If there's intelligent life on this planet in 2058, they won't have to go through this same exercise," she said.

[Associated Press]

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