About time: City gets capsule in ground 11 years later

With time capsules, even more so.

In San Carlos Saturday, residents, history buffs and officials made good on a 2000 plan to capture a slice of the City of Good Living for future generations.

The stainless steel container was lowered into a five-foot hole in front of the city’s history museum and covered with a granite slab so it can be easily located after a quarter-century of rest.

But while the time capsule may not have been technically buried in the ground until Saturday, the container had nonetheless been squirreled away, first in the depths of Councilman Randy Royce’s garage followed by a few years in the museum’s crowded back room. It was there where Bob Bledsoe, president of the San Carlos Villagers which act as museum docents, found it.

"I saw it back there and thought what is that doing here?” he said. "Then I thought we better do something with it.”

Royce, then chair of the city’s 75th Anniversary Committee, had bought the capsule with money left after the gala, picnic and celebrations launched to commemorate the city’s 1925 incorporation.

The first thought was burying the capsule under a piece of public art or bench but neither came to fruition, Royce said.

The plan then was also to open it every 25 years, look at the contents and make additions.

In the meantime, Royce stashed the capsule at his home and a few years after had it sealed before handing it over to the museum.

"We said you can do whatever you want and bury it wherever you can find space,” Royce said.

The final resting place is now fairly fitting — the front yard, rather than the back room, of the Museum of San Carlos History at 533 Laurel St.

The city had a previous time capsule unearthed from a stucco wall when the museum was rebuilt, said both Royce and Bledsoe, but nobody is really clear on what the box held or when it was entombed.

This capsule should have less guesswork.

"This one is not going to disappear,” Bledsoe said.

A corporate yard worker with cemetery experience dug five feet down, allowing the capsule to be covered by a thick granite slab. Bledsoe said a plaque marking the spot is a thought, although so are concerns of vandalism. Instead, the granite itself may be etched.

Although the original plan had been to open the capsule in 2025 to mark the city’s 100th anniversary, Royce said museum board members believe they will let at least 25 years pass now.

But enough about how the capsule came to be. The real question on everybody’s mind is what’s in it?

Artwork from elementary and middle-school students depicting their favorite things about San Carlos in 2000 and what they think the city will be like in 25 years.

Copies of "San Carlos Stories” by Linda Garvey in 2000 and "San Mateo, USA CA” by Donald Ringler in 1975.

Items from the 75th anniversary.

Realtor listings and statistics.

Tidbits from local clubs like Kiwanis, the Civic Garden Club and Friends of the San Carlos Library.

Government documents.

And anything else?

"You’ll just have to wait to see,” joked Royce.

Michelle Durand can be reached by email: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.