The time capsule, discovered in a cavity behind the cornerstone of the old City Hall on East Bay Street, was opened Wednesday.
Mayor Lenny Curry showed the audience one of the artifacts in the time capsule, a reel of magnetic audio tape. “I’m not sure we can find anything to play this on,” said Mayor Lenny Curry.
City Council President Aaron Bowman holding a copy of “The Office,” a circa-1960 municipal government trade publication.
The time capsule contained photographs of 1960 city officials, including, bottom right, Mayor-Commissioner Haydon Burns.
Bowman and Curry read a letter from Haydon Burns, mayor-commissioner in 1960, addressed to “the mayor who opens this time capsule.”
City Council President Aaron Bowman and Mayor Lenny Curry examine a document.
A copy of the Oct. 21, 1960 Financial News & Daily Record was one of the items removed from the time capsule.
City Council President Aaron Bowman looks through items found in a time capsule while Mayor Lenny Curry holds a copy of the 1959 City Annual Financial Report found inside.
City Council President Aaron Bowman holds a copy of the city’s statement of issuance of $30 million in revenue bonds for “proposed construction of sewerage, drainage, a new City Hall, Coliseum and Auditorium.”
The city’s 1960 capital improvement plan.
Mayor Lenny Curry, left, and City Council President Aaron Bowman opened the 58-year-old time capsule recovered from the old county courthouse during a ceremony at City Hall.
People were allowed to closely view the documents. After the ceremony, representtives from the Jacksonville Public Library took custody of the time capsule’s contents.
During demolition of the former Jacksonville City Hall along East Bay Street, a time capsule was discovered in a cavity behind the building’s cornerstone.
Sealed and hidden since shortly after the building was dedicated in 1960, the capsule was opened Wednesday by Mayor Lenny Curry and City Council President Aaron Bowman during a ceremony at City Hall.
“This is a gem from preconsolidation,” Curry said.
After breaking the seal on the capsule, Curry and Bowman removed a collection of documents, along with a reel of magnetic audiotape and — a pack of cigarettes, Pall Mall without filters.
“It was a different time then,” Curry said as the cigarettes were displayed.
The capsule contained copies of newspapers, photographs of city dignitaries and several city reports.
“It’s in much better shape than I expected,” Bowman said of the contents.
Curry summarized a letter addressed to “the mayor who opens this time capsule,” placed inside 58 years ago by Mayor-Commissioner Haydon Burns.
The letter recounted Jacksonville’s growth and accolades up to 1960 and concluded, “we hope that you will reflect favorably on the efforts,” Curry said.
The artifacts will be preserved by the Jacksonville Public Library in its Special Collections Department.
