Time Capsule From 1987 Found In Avondale Building: ‘Unfathomable’ How Technology Changed But Social Progress Lagging – Block Club Chicago

AVONDALE Thirty-three years ago, local leaders were asked to look 50 years into the future and make predictions about Chicago and society as part of a time capsule project for ComEds 100th anniversary.

This summer, a construction worker found the time capsule much earlier than expected and the predictions arent looking too accurate, though we have 17 years to change that.

In one, ad agency founder Harold E. Kuttner predicted by 2037 we will no longer have bigotry, anti-semitism or discrimination of any kind in our country.

In another, local pastor John S. Quinn of St. Andrew Catholic Church said by 2037 he expects the Catholic church to allow women and married men to be priests, and to adapt its doctrines to scientific discoveries.

The country is battling a growing wave of bigotry, anti-semitism and discrimination, with hate crimes on the rise.

And women and married men are still excluded from priesthood in the Catholic church despite repeated calls for change.

SCROLL FOR PHOTOS OF TIME CAPSULE ITEMS

The construction worker found the letters and all of the other artifacts in the time capsule at the end of July on the ComEd headquarters site at 3500 N. California Ave.

Crews are demolishing the 90-year-old building because the company built a new headquarters. ComEds new, $58 million headquarters complete with a public STEM education area opened on the same site in February.

The time capsule was installed in 1987 at ComEds centennial party, a grand event with a performance by Lane Techs marching band, a helicopter landing and a car show, said John Maxson, a longtime ComEd employee who organized the party.

In the weeks leading up to the party, the time capsule was filled with memorabilia from ComEd employees, everything from 1987 coins to 1987 issues of Life magazine, as well as letters from local leaders.

The goal was to surprise and delight whoever stumbled across the box decades later, Maxson said.

At the party, officials placed the time capsule near an 8-foot-tall art deco eagle sculpture, thinking itd be found at least 50 years later, in 2037.

Maxson said he was surprised when he got a call in July and learned the time capsule had already been found.

I was like, Oh my gosh, already? I really had not thought about when it would be found. I thought it would be way in the future, Maxson said.

I didnt know what way in the future meant, but at the time we thought of the office there, at California and Addison, as being one of the pyramids or something we thought this was something that was a permanent asset of the company.

But Maxson noted the past 33 years probably saw more change than [ComEds] first 100 years.

Its unfathomable how technology and the company has changed in such a short period of time, he said.

Back in 1987, ComEd relied on natural gas and coal to generate electricity, whereas today natural gas is its main source. Technicians had to bring drawings with them when going out to fix or install power lines because there was no GPS. Meter readings were done manually; today, theyre automated.

Those are only a few examples of the technological advancements made in just a few decades, said Maxson, who worked for ComEd for 32 years.

I remember [thinking] it would be a different world when its found, but I had no idea it would be such a short period of time, he said.

As for the 2037 predictions: Weve got 17 more years to eliminate bigotry and make the capsules vision for the future a reality.

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Time Capsule From 1987 Found In Avondale Building: 'Unfathomable' How Technology Changed But Social Progress Lagging - Block Club Chicago