Randhurst dome time capsule to be opened Aug. 21
Back in 1962, Mount Prospect residents sealed up a time capsule and secured it inside Randhurst Shopping Center's 64-foot dome.
High above the mall's merry-go-round, the capsule sat for more than 40 years while most residents forgot it was even there. But on Aug. 21, the Mount Prospect Historical Society will reopen it.
"At this time, the full contents of the time capsule are unknown. As such, we are hoping this will not be another Al Capone's vault," said society Executive Director Greg Peerbolte, alluding to journalist Geraldo Rivera's famously anti-climactic 1986 opening of an empty safe allegedly belonging to Capone.
Currently, the capsule is still in the very top of the dome, which will be demolished in the next week, said Village Manager Michael Janonis.
"Other than the dome, pretty much everything else is gutted," he said.
In 1962, the mall designers wanted their structure to defy convention in every possible way, including the placement of a time capsule. At the time, the $20-million project was called the "world's largest shopping center under a single roof," according to a March 8, 1962, Daily Herald article.
So instead of the traditional cornerstone ceremony, officials opted for a "dome-stone" ceremony, hoisting the large copper capsule into Randhurst's massive dome.
The public is invited to the capsule's reopening at the Mount Prospect Historical Society's annual fundraiser at Bogie's Ale House, 303 E. Kensington Road, on Aug. 21. Tickets are $15 and include a pizza buffet.
The new Randhurst mall is slated to open in Spring 2011.
In January, crews ripped down the outer portion of the mall after working for months gutting the inside, which once housed about 80 shops. The main anchor stores will remain and are currently open.
The mall is being redeveloped into what will be called Randhurst Village at a cost of about $150 million. It will include a new theater, hotel, restaurant and retail and office spaces.
The redevelopment plan calls also for a number of restaurants and 25 smaller buildings to be scattered around the site. The plan allows for rental dwellings units to be built some time in the future if the developer chooses.