Local time capsules celebrate milestones, send messages to the future

This marker in front of City Hall in Medina indicates the location of the stainless-steel container donated by former Mayor John Cobb which contains the time capsule assembled by the Medina Sesquicentennial Committee.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 27

Our recent column about the time capsule placed at the Orleans County Infirmary (now The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center) on August 28, 1960, attracted the attention of the International Time Capsule Society (ITCS) who contacted us regarding the capsule.

Based at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, this free public service has registered and mapped time capsules for over thirty years. Given the passage of time, it is inevitable that some time capsules are lost or forgotten. The goal of the ICTS is to ensure that the unique content contained in these buried capsules can be traced generations from now. A quick search of the site showed that capsules from Barker, Buffalo, Greece and Lockport have been registered.

Naturally, were curious about other Orleans County time capsules. We found several, among them are:

Sportsmen’s Time Capsule, August 1976

President Mike Donahue placed an old-time bottle in the fieldstone fireplace of the newly completed rustic cabin on the Club’s grounds in Medina. Club member, Joe Prescott, filled and sealed the bottle which contained newspaper articles and records concerning the project.

Medina Sesquicentennial Time Capsule, February 1983

This time capsule, which was completed in February 1983, contains a comprehensive array of material documenting Medina’s past, present and future. Material from 1982 sesquicentennial celebrations, a copy of Ceil White’s History of Medina, local calendars, phone books, an Apple Grove menu, an Apple Bank manufactured by Fisher-Price, and the program from Rev. H. Burton Entrekin’s retirement party are among the items included.

Sixth grade students were invited to write about their projections of “Life in Medina in 2032”. Six students’ essays were selected to be included in the time capsule: Meaghan Boice, Aaron Dutcher, Amy Fuller, Richard Kenward, Molly Maak and Jon Scott. Some of their predictions were remarkably prescient:

• Dentists will use invisible braces
• Cars will be operated by verbal commands
• Everything will be computerized
• Solar power will be used for heating and running cars

Other predictions have not yet come to pass:

• The canal will be a parking lot for a huge Main Street mall
• Meals will be capsules, pills or wafers
• The Mayor, Village Board, teachers, doctors and nurses will be robots

This capsule is scheduled to be opened in March 2032, on the occasion of the Bicentennial anniversary of the incorporation of the Village of Medina.

Medina High School, May 1991

On May 6, 1991, Principal Fred Snyder placed a time capsule and cornerstone in the new $10 million Medina High School building. The time capsule contains a photograph of the former High School on Catherine Street and a brick from it, photographs of Supt. Dr. David Gee, and of the 1990-91 Mustang Marching Band, a student calendar, course offerings for 1990-91, graduation requirements, the names of students and staff entering the building and a dictionary of words in common usage in 1991 as well as students messages of peace, hope and prosperity.

Village of Lyndonville Millennial Time Capsule, September 2000

Mayor Mark Scarr spearheaded the creation of a time capsule celebrating both the millennium and the incorporation of the Village of Lyndonville. A twelve-inch PVC pipe sealed on both ends containing local newspapers, photos, community information, local restaurant menus and a letter from Mayor Scarr to the future Mayor was buried in a secret location. It is to be opened in 2053, a file in the Village Office contains the information as to its location.

Celebrating a Century of Conservation, March 2003.

A time capsule containing artifacts from the 20th century as well as messages and art created by local schoolchildren was buried for one hundred years at the Iroquois National Wildlife Heritage Headquarters at Casey Road. Included also is an essay by William Barber, a 3rd grade student at Oak Orchard Elementary School in Medina.

Covid-19, November 2020

Created by Orleans County 4-H members and stored in the Archive Room at the Education Center on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds, this time capsule documents the experience of the pandemic. It contains hand sanitizer, facial masks, documentation on the various stages of the lockdown and is to be opened 15-20 years from now.

Solar Eclipse, April 2024

The Cobblestone Museum prepared a time capsule of memorabilia pertaining to April’s solar eclipse. It is to be opened on the occasion of the next full solar eclipse in Orleans County, one hundred years from now.

Time capsules are leaps of faith into the future. When compiled, the scheduled opening date seems impossibly distant. But times’ relentless march soon makes short work of that 50-year or 100-year scheduled opening date. We encourage you to register your organization’s time capsules with the International Time Capsule Society.