Colorado Springs Gazette
August 24, 2000.

One Springs time capsule opened, another sealed.

One hundred years stay well - preserved when they're sealed in stone.  Late Wednesday afternoon, during a ceremony at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, the contents of a century old time capsule were revealed and another capsule rededicated in its place.

The items in the old capsule weren't much of a surprise - newspapers at the time reported on the coins, official documents and photos that await the year 2000. But no one knew if, when the capsule was opened, there would be anything but dust inside, said museum director William Holmes.

Yet the tender - looking tin box nestled inside the cornerstone of  the old El Paso County Court House - now the Pioneers Museum - kept a photo of Springs founder General William Jackson Palmer looking ageless. The 1900 city directory looked "like it had just arrived from the publisher," said Matt Mayberry, public programs coordinator for the Pioneers Museum.

Donna Moraco and her 8 year old son, Stephen, came to the unveiling "out of curiosity," Moraco said. Stephen imagines a century ago the city would have had "no cars, not many computers, no Nintendos, no GameBoys,: - a time so long ago "even you weren't alive," he said to his mother.

A hundred years from today, he thinks cars will fly and rollerblades will have engines.

Betty Zabruskky, who cam with her sister, Dorothy, hoped that 100 years from Wednesday the children of her nieces and nephews would stand on the lawn, awaiting to see what the people of 2000 had left them.

People of all ages sat on the grass and leaned against trees as Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace read a letter written to the citizens of Colorado Springs in the year 2100. She ran down the issues facing the city today, from growth to transportation then said: "My wish for the citizens in the year of 2100 is that it remains a privilege to live in Colorado Springs."

This time around, the museum is keeping the two capsules for those citizens to open in a century.

One was will be returned to the cornerstone, which was rededicated by members of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Colorado. It's filled with letters, a photo of the Colorado Springs City Council members, a book on the history of Colorado Springs, and a television remote control.

Another larger capsule will be kept in the museum itself, full of everything from the "profound to the mundane," said Mayberry,
holding a letter from a professor of philosophy in one hand and a roll of toilet paper in the other.

The items from the 100 year old capsule are on display at the Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon Street. More information:
719-385-5990
 

Transcribed and submitted by Sundee Maynez (no date; no email)