100-Year-Old Time Capsule Moved To Walters Art Museum
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Amazing discovery. A multi-million dollar restoration project at the Washington Monument in Baltimore reveals a rare find.
Marcus Washington was one of the first to see what's been hidden for a century.
For the past ten months, it's been work as usual on the restoration of the Washington Monument, gearing up for the bicentennial celebration. That was--until last week.
"When I saw it, we knew how special it was. We made sure to secure it and notify Dr. Humphries immediately," said George Wilk, Lewis Contractors.
Covered until Wednesday morning, WJZ was invited to see what Wilk found just steps inside the door.
"To think of those people 100 years ago putting that there, knowing someone in the future was going to find it," said Lance Humphries, Ph.D., restoration committee.
To the average eye, it's just a copper box. History and treasure is what's inside the time capsule.
"Newspapers from the day. Actually, The Sun says that there are examples of The Sun in this and commemorative programs from the Washington Monument's centennial celebration," said Humphries.
After the discovery, workers realized whomever put the box there wanted to protect it because they soldered the top shut and placed it on two wooden shims.
"The monument has a lot of dampness in there and so the copper actually wasn't touching any of the walls, it was just kind of suspended over them a little bit. Maybe that helped preserve it a little better," said Humphries.
The time frame of when the box was placed is known only because of when a centennial plaque was installed.
"But actually the plaque was not installed until Defender's Day 1915, which is in September," Humphries said.
The contents are still a mystery to anyone living, but the excitement of finding the capsule is well worth the nearly 100 year wait.
"Every building has smoothing to tell you, you just have to take your time to be able to find it and see what it's telling you," said Wilk.
The box has been taken to Walters Art Museum, where they will try to figure out the best way to open it.
The contents of the box will be kept at Walters Art Museum. Organizers hope to have them on display during the monument's bicentennial celebration.
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