116-year-old time capsule discovered at University of Illinois

A 116-year-old time capsule has been discovered during a multi-million dollar demolition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in the US on Thursday. It has been confirmed that the box dates from 1907. According to school officials, the time capsule was discovered by workmen tearing down Illini Hall, where the demolition process began in early February. 

“We were extremely fortunate to learn that the university was willing to work with us to retrieve both the foundation stone and some cornice work from Illini Hall,” said the university’s YMCA executive director, Jim Hinterlong. The University of Illinois Facilities and Services tweeted an image of the time capsule. It said: "Illini Hall: 1907-2023."

Illini Hall: 1907-2023 pic.twitter.com/Itkf95DWbr

— University of Illinois Facilities & Services (@UofIFS) February 15, 2023

School authorities claimed that they were unaware of any time capsule being buried in the structure, which was initially built for the neighbourhood YMCA. The University YMCA will get the time capsule, according to the institution. As part of the group's 150th anniversary celebration which are scheduled for October 1, 2023, the time capsule will be opened. A new data science hub is expected to emerge at Illini Hall.

"It is one of the ways we can help preserve history. The building is no longer here. We've documented the building historically. This is a part of that building the Y can keep as far as their heritage," Dennis Craig, the school's historic preservation officer told WCIA-TV. 

The million-dollar question is, what lies in the Mystery Box 

For some time, the capsule's content will remain unknown. “We don’t know what’s in there. We won’t know until later this year when we have our 150th anniversary celebrations on October 1st and we could only begin to imagine what kind of information or ideas or images or documents they might have put there to discovering them 116 years later,” said Hinterlong.

About the content, many theories exist. Hinterlong thinks that artefacts from the previous age might be in the time capsule. “It was a dynamic time. That was before the First World War. It was a time before radio was widely used, I think maybe even used at all. It was a time before television. It was a time when people came together in person at important moments and talked about the future and the current moment. We hope some of that gets captured in the time capsule,” Hinterlong said.