Time Capsule

In 1873, a one-foot cubed copper box was sealed beneath the cornerstone of the then new City Hall building in Rochester, NY. Filled with documents and artifacts of that era, the box was seen as a "time capsule" designed to let future generations know what life was like at that time. Fast forward to 1999. Word of the 1873 Time Capsule surfaces and, with the twentieth century and the millennium drawing to a close, the decision is made to retrieve the box from the now Old City Hall.

The Search for the Box

On September 11, 1999 -- more than 126 years after the 1873 Rochester Time Capsule was buried -- a team of volunteer stoneworkers and conservators from the Rochester Museum & Science Center searched for the one-cubic-foot copper box behind the cornerstone of the Old City Hall building, Rochester, NY..