The monument’s cornerstone—laid July 4, 1815—included a hollowed out well containing artifacts and was spotted by Wilk this winter as the base of the monument was excavated to make room for a septic system. Earlier, this past fall, Wilk found a 1915 time capsule behind a 100-year-old dedication plaque from the monument’s centennial celebration.

“No, didn’t know it was there,” Wilk said as conservators from The Walters Art Museum carefully extracted artifacts from the time capsule Tuesday morning for the first time. “We unbolted that plaque and then I took a cellphone picture in the dark to see what was behind it.”

Highlights found in the 1915 metal time capsule, which had been soldered shut, include an early photograph of the Declaration of Independence, Baltimore newspapers of the time, including a German language paper, the city’s official municipal journal, and numerous artifacts commemorating the 100^th anniversaries of the monument, the Battle of Baltimore and the Star-Spangled Banner, including a colorized photo of a “human flag” and a portrait of Francis Scott Key.

The highlights found in 1815 cornerstone well, which had first been opened in February, but had not been fully displayed until today, include three glass jars stuffed with coins and newspapers from the period—which, because they were written on linen paper, have survived relatively intact. Other items are related more directly to Washington, including a portrait and published copy of his presidential farewell address.

Lance Humphries, chair of the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, noted the two distinct themes in the time capsules.

The 1915 capsule, which included more than 50 items, is largely focused on the commemorating the centennial of the War of 1812 (which ended in 1815), the decisive 1814 Battle of Baltimore and subsequent Defenders Day celebrations, as well as Key’s penning of the Star-Spangled Banner.

The 1815 capsule is much more focused on the country’s newfound independence and the leader of Continental Army during the American Revolution who became the first president of the United States. Baltimore’s monument was the first erected to George Washington in the U.S.

“The artifacts contained in the cornerstone are incredible finds and reveal much about what the Washington Monument represented to those who erected it 200 years ago,” said Humphries.

“They laid a copy of the July 3, 1815 Federal Gazette [one of Baltimore’s newspapers in 1815], which had a copy of the Declaration of Independence on its front page that day, across the three jars they’d placed inside the cornerstone,” Humphries said. “When you pull that out, you literally feel what they were thinking when they placed those items in that cornerstone. I think it’s revealing, too, that the word ‘Memory’ is engraved a bit deeper than all the rest of the words in the inscription on the original dedication plaque.”

*The Mount Vernon Place Conservancy will host a free, all-day fair commemorating the $5.5 million restoration and bicentennial of the Washington Monument this July 4.

* Also in July, artifacts from the two time capsules will go on display at the Maryland Historical Society.

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“Baltimore was proud of the role it had played in the War of 1812 and proud to build the first monument to George Washington,” says Lance Humphries, restoration chair of the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, which has been leading a $5.5 million restoration of the monument as it approaches its bicentennial this summer.

Earlier this week, workers excavating around the 180-foot monument’s base discovered the 200-year-old cornerstone—a hollow, near-perfect, 2-foot cube and time capsule—the contents of which were officially revealed Wednesday.

The stuff inside proved not to be much of a surprise once the cornerstone, located about six feet below grade on the monument’s northeast corner, had been found. Written documents from the period of construction noted that an engraved copper plate, a sealed glass bottle containing a likeness of the first president and his second inaugural address, as well as several local newspapers and the different U.S. coins had been included.

The big reveal was that most everything seems to be in pretty good shape two centuries later. A little water had worked its way into the sealed stone, but not a lot. And the glass jars appear to have effectively protected their contents. Although the likeness of Washington and the copy of his address weren’t immediately visible from an initial top down glance—a number of the locally published newspapers from back in the day, including the Federal Gazette and Baltimore Daily Advertiser, the Niles Weekly Register, and the American and Commercial Daily Advertiser—can clearly be viewed.

“Newspapers and coins were pretty typical of cornerstones and time capsules of the time,” Humphries notes. “They were trying to show us what was going on in the world at that time.”

Although the engraved copper plate at the bottom of the stone appears weathered and hard to read, the stone plate covering, noting the work of stone cutters William Steuart and Thomas Towson (there’s a last name Baltimore folks will recognize) and stone mason Sater Stevensen remains nicely chiseled for the most part.

Preservation experts from The Walters Art Museum will figure the best way to safely remove the contents before making the next move.

This is the second time capsule unearthed during the restoration process. The first was discovered in October 2014 and is dated to 1915, when Baltimoreans installed it as part of celebrations to mark the monument’s centennial. That capsule currently can be seen at The Walters Art Museum and will be opened in May, at which point its contents will be exhibited at the nearby Maryland Historical Society. The hope is that the contents of the second time capsule—including the likeness of old George and the copy of his address—will also be available by then.

The giant stone column with a statue of Washington at the top has been closed to the public since 2010. It’s getting spiffed up for its 200th birthday celebration this July, when it will be reopened to the public followed by an old-fashioned country fair.

But before all that, we’ve got to figure out what to put in the new time capsule planned for our future Baltimoreans to unearth. Who knows what device people will be reading the news on by then?

*Baltimore senior editor Amy Mulvihill wrote about the discovery of the cornerstone Monday and contributed to this post.

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Today, workers excavating around the monument’s base discovered its 200-year-old cornerstone—a large granite cube with a marble lid that, according to historical accounts, may contain paper items and coinage. The items are thought to have been buried during a cornerstone-laying ceremony on July 4, 1815, which attracted national attention because the 180-foot marble column topped with a statue of George Washington was the first American monument dedicated to the president. The monument was completed in 1829. The opening of the cornerstone’s time capsule will take place on Wednesday, February 18 at 1 p.m. at the monument.

This is the second time capsule unearthed during the restoration process. The first was discovered in October 2014 and is dated to 1915, when Baltimoreans installed it as part of celebrations to mark the monument’s centennial. That capsule currently can be seen at The Walters Art Museum and will be opened in May, at which point its contents will be exhibited at the nearby Maryland Historical Society.

In a press release from Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, which is overseeing the restoration work, the conservancy’s Restoration Committee chairman Lance Humphries stated: “Few buildings have two time capsules. These items speak to the antiquity and symbolic importance of the monument in the history of our country.”

The obelisk, which has been closed to the public since 2010, is getting spiffed up for its 200th birthday celebration in July, when it will be reopened to the public followed by a family-friendly, old-fashioned country fair in Mt. Vernon Place.

Though it all sounds highfalutin, the cornerstone was found via appropriately humbling circumstances: According to the press release “the stone was discovered while . . . digging a pit for a sewage tank off the northeast corner of the building.”

Never change, Monument City.

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