Ex-Randhurst chief engineer: Time capsule was missing in mid-1980s

While new theories keep emerging as to the possible whereabouts of the missing Randhurst time capsule, the former chief engineer of the mall, Alan Oliver, added a new twist to the mystery this week.

Oliver, now 64, was chief engineer at the Mount Prospect shopping center between 1974 and 1994, taking over from his late father, Roy, who also oversaw the construction of the mall. And Alan Oliver says the capsule was already missing in the mid-1980s.

The copper time capsule was hoisted atop the grand dome at the center of the new mall in March of 1962 when construction was completed, according to reports published at the time. It was to be recovered and unveiled last month at a Mount Prospect Historical Society fundraiser.

Yet, when construction crews tore the 64-foot-wide dome down to make way for a new shopping center, the capsule was nowhere to be found.

Alan Oliver did not witness the capsule's placement in 1962, but years later he asked his father about it.

"He said it was supposed to be placed up at the top of the dome, but (that) it was actually placed ... at the base of the dome," Oliver said.

Alan Oliver, who was in charge of maintaining the fluorescent lights around the dome, searched for some sign of the capsule being embedded in the concrete.

"I kept the blueprints (of the mall) for many, many years, and I looked for it and never found it," Oliver said. "Usually, they make at least a note on the bottom of the (blueprint) drawing."

The roughly 2-by-3-foot copper time capsule, with the words "Randhurst Center" on top, reportedly contained copies of speeches made the day the mall opened, mall blueprints, newspapers and a dollar bill.

Oliver said curiosity drove him to search every nook and cranny of the mall. He discovered hidden spaces that weren't recorded in any blueprints, but not the prized capsule.

A Mount Prospect resident has said the time capsule and other valuables were placed in Dock 11 in the mall's basement after being removed from the original glass dome during repairs after a storm damaged the glass around 1984.

Oliver, who was present when the dome and the ceiling were renovated in 1984 as part of a mall modernization, said he didn't find a time capsule then.

But he remembered Dock 11 was a somewhat hidden storage space where old granite and bronze mall statues were kept. And he does recall finding a hoard of civil defense supplies there in the 1990s. "It was in what we called Dock 11. That was the underground."

Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Mount Prospect Historical Society, said he was told by mall developer, Casto Lifestyle Properties, that while there were several shipping docks in the mall basement that were demolished as part of the current rebuilding process, there was no Dock 11.

Peerbolte has since learned that Dock 11 became the basement furniture section of a mall department store.

Oliver said his father suggested a former mall employee may have stolen the capsule. "I've also heard the theory that it was just a promotional event but never existed," he added.

Peerbolte refuses to lose hope of the capsule's recovery, though his enthusiasm is waning.

"So far, everyone I've talked to has kind of given me their theories and no one really knows what the fate of it was," Peerbolte said.

Anyone with clues should call (847) 392-9006.