Leominster, MA, Municipal Building (City Hall) Time Capsule, 1915

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Presented here are items included in the time capsule sealed within the cornerstone of Leominster’s then-new municipal building during the town’s 175th-anniversary celebration on July 4-5, 1915. Later the same year, Leominster became a city. The capsule was remembered, located, and successfully removed from the cornerstone during the dual anniversary year in 2015 (275 years since its founding and 100 years as a city); the contents were turned over to the Leominster Public Library for initial display and permanent safekeeping.

The well preserved contents range from town publications and photographs of personnel and departments (particularly Police and Fire) to handwritten documents, published books and pamphlets, fliers, newspapers and clippings, business cards, and photographs--both studio portraits and snapshots. Also included were a 1909 Lincoln penny, an incised copper plate prepared by the man who made the time-capsule box, and a poster-calendar containing the firebox codes for the town.

Churches, schools public and private, banks and other businesses, veterans’ organizations, the Historical Society, fraternal associations, temperance groups, and individuals within the town of Leominster all contributed items they felt would represent the town at this important juncture. Most of the photographs carry identifications of the individual members depicted, preserved for posterity. Sketches about the founding of the organizations abound, many of them handwritten but clearly legible, while others are typewritten.

A few items could not be digitized due to technical considerations.