Dist. 48 opens mystery time capsule

It turns out Tupperware isn't the best choice for a time capsule.

Volunteers armed with shovels and a map drawn by students in 1983 dug up the mystery time capsule that's been garnering so much attention in Salt Creek Elementary District 48.

“It was pretty exciting to finally find it, after all the reports and confusion about where it might be,” Superintendent John Correll said.

The time capsule was buried about four feet below ground, right outside the window of Correll's office at Albright Middle School in Villa Park. But the container, under pressure from the dirt for 28 years, didn't stay sealed. Water seeped in, destroying some of the treasures the middle schoolers had tucked into the container originally slated to be opened in 2025.

Members of the district's 175th anniversary celebration committee decided to open the time capsule to salvage what they could.

Items that survived range from a pencil to a series of Polaroid photographs showing Albright Middle School and its students in 1983.

“The Polaroids held up unbelievably well, and they were submerged in mucky, mucky, mucky water,” said Ave Berkshire, co-chairman of the anniversary committee.

The items will be on display at the 175th birthday extravaganza from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Albright Middle School.

The saga started with recollections of a time capsule being buried at Albright during the district's 150th anniversary celebration in 1986. If there was, it's still out there somewhere.

The time capsule unearthed last week was put together by language arts students in 1983. A former student, now a real estate investor in California, tipped off the district to the existence of the map, which school officials found in a small silver safe inside the district's vault.

The anniversary committee is putting together a new time capsule to be buried in the same spot.

But this time, it's going to have a permanent marker so future generations will be able to find it. And they are purchasing an official time capsule receptacle, having learned a lesson about Tupperware.

If you go

What: Salt Creek Elementary District 48 Birthday Extravaganza

When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 12

Where: Albright Middle School, 1110 Villa Ave., Villa Park

Etc.: See former teachers, view photos and artifacts from all decades, browse or buy old yearbooks, win auction items including a 1926 desk, pose in front of a life-size photo of the first clapboard one-room schoolhouse, play carnival games, enjoy hot dogs and birthday cake, and more.