MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury selectboard on Tuesday, July 26, will open the time capsule recently found in the old municipal gym. And the ceremony at 6:30 p.m. in the new municipal building might include a person who was present when the mystery box was first secreted in the southeast cornerstone of the gym back in 1939.
The gym and former municipal building at 94 Main St. are in the process of being demolished to make way for a new public park. Workers carefully lifted the time capsule — a rusty, non-descript metal box — from the cornerstone and took it to the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History. The selectboard, at its July 12 meeting, agreed on the July 26 date for opening the box.
But its contents probably won’t be a mystery to at least one person in town. Middlebury Selectwoman Heather Seeley noted that resident Robert Myrick, 92, has gotten wind of the discovery of the time capsule and would like to be on hand when it is opened. Seeley said Myrick was a Middlebury High School student in 1939 and recalled that a roster of the students’ names was among the items placed in the container.
The selectboard will ask that an archivist be on hand during the ceremony in order to carefully handle any items that might have deteriorated over time.