St. Boniface Time Capsule Contents Revealed

Anticipation had been building for weeks, ever since it was announced that a time capsule had been found in the corner stone of the St. Boniface School which was recently demolished.
On Sunday afternoon, during the annual consignment auction for St. Boniface Catholic Church, the mystery of the contents of the time capsule was exposed.
Father Ross Burkhalter had the honors of opening the time capsule, but not before Carol Eischeid read the history of the time capsule as published in The Elgin Review in 1908.
To put it all in perspective, one need only look to the history books. When the builders of Catholic school were placing brick upon brick the following were true:
• Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States
• The Titanic was only a dream, it would be years before the ship would sail on its fateful maiden voyage.
• The world would change in less than a decade when World War I would break out.
• Then there was Elgin. The community was just 19 years old.
• The Great Depression from which the U.S. would emerge as a world superpower was more than two decades away.
With that as a backdrop, the builders of the school placed items in the time capsule which would reflect their time, their place in the world.
With the help of auctioneer Ted Baum, Father Burkhalter  was careful to open the time capsule with a hammer and a screw driver.
The first item pulled from the capsule was an official document commemorating the day the corner stone was laid on August 7, 1908.. Familiar names like Venteicher, Geist, Hoefer, Meis, and Beckman were mentioned on the document. The next item removed was the July 31, 1908 issue of The Elgin Review. Burkhalter read from the front page of the newspaper, noting how well the newsprint had stood the test of time.
More papers were pulled from the capsule. Two German language papers, O’Fallon Hauffreund and Amerika. Another newspaper retrieved from the time capsule was True Voice. All the papers dated back to July 1908.
Harder to discern the date on a number of coins from that period of time.
And then it was over. Some were left wanting more from so many years ago.
However, the time capsule itself looked to be no bigger than a safety deposit box one might rent at the Bank of Elgin.
Yet, for a few moments, everyone stepped back in time.