Time Capsule - 1852

On July 13, 1852, among about 500 of "the fair" of St. Thomas, the cornerstone for the Elgin County Courthouse was laid amid Masonic ceremony.Original Time Capsule?

The Canadian Free Press reported in the July 15, 1852 issue that "In a cavity under the stone was placed a glass jar containing the various dates, the Township population and names of the municipal officers in the new County of Elgin, several newspapers, coins, etc."

Yet, in the June 15, 2012 issue of the St. Thomas Times-Journal, it was reported that when the time capsule (glass jar) was located during renovations for the consolidated courthouse, it was empty!

The glass jar discovered in 2012 bears the manufacturing name of J. Fau Prunes D'ente Bordeaux. Another mystery has surfaced during research to suggest that this jar dates to ca. 1880, not 1852.

J. Fau Prunes D'Ente BordeauxCould it be that the original time capsule was removed and replaced with the prune jar after the 1898 fire? The burnt courthouse would have been wide open for a knowledgeable person to get in, remove the original jar, replace it with an empty jar and get out again.

There are several theories to speculate the fate of the original jar and contents. Will the truth ever be known? It's hard to know.