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(This article originally appeared on April 13, 2004 in the
Cincinnati Enquirer)
75-Year-Old Time Capsule to be Opened Wednesday
By Angela Koenig
This Cincinnati neighborhood hopes to get a glimpse of life 75
years ago, when community leaders open a time capsule discovered
during a demolition.
"We don't have any great expectations that it will be lots of money or
anything like that. We'll be glad with whatever comes out of it," said Liz
Kissel, president of the Westwood Historical Society.
The capsule was found last year during the demolition of what was originally
the Westwood Savings Bank at Harrison and Boudinot avenues, she said. The
building was demolished to make way for a new Walgreen's store.
Members of the Westwood Civic Association worked with developers to save
portions of the original limestone for future use as a decorative streetscape
structure, she said.
"Then someone noticed that there might be something sealed inside the
cornerstone," she said.
Time capsules are commonly found in cornerstones and usually contain paper
items and occasionally photographs, said Scott Gampfer, director of history
collections and preservation at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Gampfer, who has been present for more than a dozen time-capsule openings,
said this one is typical of copper box capsules that predate the 1940s. He
speculates that the contents will relate to the bank's opening and community
leaders and events of the time.
That is, if the contents have not been ruined by moisture, he said.
"You can't really tell until you get it opened," he said.
The capsule opening will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, at the WiladeMansion
in front of Judson Village Retirement Community, 2373 Harrison Avenue. A social
hour begins at 6 p.m.
(This article originally appeared on April 15, 2004 in the
Cincinnati Enquirer)
Lucky Pocket Piece? In 1929, it Fell Short
By Kevin Aldridge
A piece of local history was unearthed Wednesday as the contents of
a 75-year-old time capsule buried under an old bank were revealed.
One of the pieces that got a few chuckles was a Cooper Lucky Pocket Piece
with an inscription that read "Good for two years of prosperity in Ohio."
"They had no idea of the irony when they put that inside," said Ruby Rogers,
director of the Cincinnati Historical Society, who assisted with the opening.
The stock market crashed later that year - 1929 - leading to the Great
Depression.
The capsule was found last year during the demolition of what was originally
the Westwood Savings Bank at Harrison and Boudinot avenues. The building was
demolished to make way for a new Walgreens store.
Members of the Westwood Civic Association worked with developers to save
portions of the original limestone for future use as a decorative streetscape
structure. While removing the limestone, someone noticed the time capsule sealed
inside the cornerstone.
More than 50 people showed up to witness the capsule opening at Wilade
Mansion in front of Judson Village Retirement Community on Harrison Avenue. They
watched eagerly for several minutes as members of the Westwood Historical
Society and Cincinnati Museum Center carefully cut open the shoebox-size copper
container and removed the items inside.
Among the contents of the time capsule buried in 1929 were business cards
from several neighborhood vendors, a May 14, 1929, edition of the Enquirer, a
Feb. 1 edition of the Western Hills Press, about a dozen photos - some of the
Harrison Avenue streetscape - bank pamphlets and money, including a 1905
Canadian quarter.
"I cannot get over the condition of these items. They are very
well-preserved," Rogers said.
Residents found another irony amusing as well. The opening of the Westwood
time capsule came one week before the 18th anniversary of when Geraldo Rivera
opened Al Capone's vault on TV and found nothing inside.
"Our opening was certainly better than his," joked Carol Wood, secretary of
the Westwood Historical Society.
Liz Kissel, president of the Westwood Historical Society, said members of the
neighborhood council would decide soon what to do with the contents of the
capsule. Kissel said Westwood residents would place a time capsule of their own
on a traffic island at Harrison and Boudinot avenues.
"They planted a seed in our minds," Kissel said.
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