Masons install time capsule at courthouse plaza
Post Independent Staff
GLENWOOD SPRINGS – In about 100 years, the great-grandchildren of today’s children could open the metal time capsule sealed Thursday in the front of the Garfield County Courthouse Plaza building.
When those children of the future open the capsule, they will find things that, to the people of 2003, are commonplace.
But in 100 years, these items will change from the relatively unimportant slices of early 21st-Century life to valuable historical artifacts.
Placing the time capsule was part of a formal ceremony held Thursday by the Colorado Free and Accepted Masons – represented in Glenwood Springs by Masonic Lodge No. 65 – as well as officials and employees of Garfield County. It was held on the sidewalk outside the building.
“The laying of a cornerstone as a ritualistic ceremony is the oldest ceremony in building,” Colorado Mason’s Grand Master Claud E. Dutro said.
Thursday’s ceremony was the same as one held in 1928 for the Garfield County Courthouse building, he said.
The Masons tested the symbolic cornerstone – actually an engraved stone plaque – to be sure it’s square, level and plumb before it was approved for placement into the front facade of the building.
Next, county commissioners, employees and some of the Masons in attendance dabbed a trowel with cement and placed the dab at the bottom edge of the opening where the plaque would be placed. The last person to dab the cement was a little girl.
“It will probably be opened in about 100 years,” Dutro said. “We like to have the youngest person in attendance put some on so it’s possible that young person could be here when it’s opened.”
Next, the cornerstone was carefully placed in the hole and two shims were temporarily pounded in the sides to hold it in place.
By 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the stone was officially laid.
“Ages and ages will pass away before it’s seen again by human eyes,” Dutro said.
After the ceremony at the courthouse plaza was finished, most people went across the street to place a metal plaque on the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
“It symbolizes the unity we have,” County Commissioner John Martin said of the two buildings. “We open the doors to everyone.”
Contact Greg Masse: 945-8515, ext. 511
An American flag
A declaration supporting U.S. troops overseas
A letter from County Commissioner John Martin
A list of Garfield County employees
Business cards
Copies of the Post Independent and the Rifle Citizen Telegram
A county road and bridge hat
A poem by Mr. Rogers
Instructions on laying a cornerstone
Garfield County’s strategic planning chart and a public relations video
A history of Garfield County’s first 100 years, from 1883 to 1983
A resolution from the county commissioners
Coins from the pockets of bystanders
A hair from the head of Post Independent photographer Jim Noelker
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