Ashburnham sets date to open 1915 time capsule

Ashburnham sets date to open 1915 time capsule
By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF


ASHBURNHAM — At 10 a.m. June 6 on the steps of Town Hall, officials will open a time capsule that has been sitting in its vault since 1915.

The time capsule was the brainchild of Ashburnham native George Hoffman and his friend, Philadelphia businessman Louis Eisenlohr, who, in 1915, sent invitations for the 2015 event to business contacts from Massachusetts and Philadelphia, according to the town's history.

Invitations from 1915 are made to invitees or their "oldest living nearest of kin," but the public is also invited to the event. Also on the guest list is the president of the United States, the governor, his staff, and the executive committee of Massachusetts. (Though invitations indicate the opening of the capsules will take place on the second Saturday in September 2015, the event is being held on June 6.)

According to records, the lost capsule contained letters from state governors, one from John Wanamaker, one from Judge James T. Malone of the Court of General Sessions, one from Judge Norris Barratt of Philadelphia, and many from university and college presidents and other people important to Mr. Eisenlohr. In addition, it held a collection of engraved discs made from pieces of a sunken battleship, the USS Maine.

There were two "sister" time capsules — one in the town vault and one buried on the campus of Cushing Academy — but the capsule on Cushing's campus was found destroyed when the private school constructed its library in 1984.

For more information, or if interested in attending, call (978) 827-7400 or email alumniprograms@cushing.org">alumniprograms@cushing.org. To learn more about George Hoffman and Louis Eisenlohr, visit www.cushing.org/150.