Cannon School Time Capsule Contents Mostly Disintegrated by Water Damage

A full crowd showed up at the Vermilion County Museum for Friday’s unveiling of the contents inside the Cannon School time capsule found in the school’s cornerstone.  It was actually opened Thursday with the proper tools, and what was found inside was a memory of why the school could not be used anymore: water damage.  One item not disintegrated beyond recognition was a small copper box that was able to be opened Friday.  What was pulled out carefully were mostly blackened pieces of paper, with a Masonic booklet being the one thing that could be identified.

Museum executive director Sue Richter stated that nicks in the original soldering of the copper box, and the passage of time, allowed all the damage to the contents in the copper box.  Richter says for anyone doing a time capsule today, there are ways to better preserve it.

AUDIO: Nowadays, even if you’re putting them in a cornerstone, after it is all completely sealed and all oxygen is removed; there’s a gas you can insert now that will eat up the oxygen.  Then all the oxygen is removed from the case.  Seal it shut.  And then you can put it in some sort of a polypropylene container. 

District 118 Board member Johnnie Carey, a former Cannon School principal, said the  unveiling may have been disappointing, but it was great to see so many people there, as there were many Cannon School yearbooks and items donated to the museum that were on display.

AUDIO: I think the turnout is what’s more important, in that you have so many Cannon alumni that came out to see this.  Yes, it’s disappointing.  But the thing is that they got to see it.

Alice Pollock, an advocate for keeping Cannon School right up to when it was torn down, said she did have her hopes; but they didn’t happen.

AUDIO: We were hoping for maybe class lists, or coins, or maybe newspapers from the time period.  But we were very disappointed that it was all wet.  It’s kind of bittersweet, I guess, would be the best way to describe it.

And for those wanting a commemorative brick from Cannon School, Superintendent Dr. Alicia Geddis says all you have to do is head to the Cannon site on Main Street and choose what you’d like.  The bricks are still there, and the fence that was up during the tear down is gone