It’s about time: Clark County residents decide what will be in time capsule opening in 2125

Vancouver’s Main Street Promise project will create a pedestrian-friendly commercial district between Fifth and 15th streets downtown.

The last time Vancouver’s Main Street was overhauled to this degree was 1908, said Michael Walker, director of Vancouver’s Downtown Association — 117 years ago, even before the Titanic sank in 1912.

“I was thinking with my group here at the VDA, ‘How can we honor this moment in history?’ ” Walker said. “How do we build a connection to the present day and steward that forward 100 years?”

The answer: a time capsule.

For $1,200, Vancouver’s Downtown Association purchased a stainless steel box measuring 20 inches wide by 16.2 inches high by 9 inches deep. That might not be very big but it’s watertight and “built to last centuries,” Walker said.

The 12-gauge, type 304 steel resists corrosion from natural and chemical elements and can withstand temperatures of 250 degrees down to negative 40, Walker said. He wanted to make sure it would stand the test of time.

What will future Vancouverites find when the capsule is opened in 2125? That’s up to current residents of Clark County, Walker said. Anyone in Clark County can submit an item to be buried in the capsule by mailing or delivering it to Vancouver’s Downtown Association by March 28. Submission guidelines are at surveymonkey.com/r/3Y7JVDT.

“We’re open to considering just about anything that will fit in the dimensions of the box,” Walker said.

Vancouver’s Downtown Association has also created a flyer peppered with images of potential items for submission, including a doll, plastic dinosaurs, old photographs, a defunct cellphone model, a necklace, a baseball, coins and, inexplicably, teeth.

So far, Vancouver’s Downtown Association has already received a commemorative plaque from the grand opening of the Hilton Vancouver Washington. The Port of Vancouver will contribute an aerial photograph of its current property. Other individuals have said they’d like to donate Kiggins Theatre movie tickets or books of poetry. Fay Blackburn, widow of Columbian photographer Reid Blackburn who was killed in the volcano’s 1980 blast, said she will donate an item (to be determined) from her late husband’s effects.

Walker said he’s hoping to get “at least 30 to 50 things for considering,” and everything that meets the criteria will be thoughtfully examined.

“I don’t want to say ‘no’ to anybody initially,” Walker said. “I just want everyone to throw us their ideas and we’ll consider them.”

Vancouver’s Downtown Association board members may make their own contribution, Walker said, perhaps a letter to the future of Vancouver, although the board is still considering other possibilities.

The time capsule came with an array of materials to help preserve its contents, such as archival-quality polyester envelopes, foam pouches and thick bags, Walker said. Each item will be recorded and cataloged to help future citizens understand what it is they’re seeing. (Flip phones or compact discs, for example, may be puzzling to Clark County residents of 2125.)

An exact location for the capsule’s burial hasn’t yet been decided upon, Walker said, although board members have a spot near Turtle Place. The time of burial is expected to be roughly a year from now, during the pause between the Main Street project’s second and third phases, before hardscaping is put in place, Walker said.

One of the challenges of burying a long-term time capsule is keeping a record of its location — and its existence.

In 2013, construction work inside a building in downtown Ridgefield uncovered a 1926 time capsule.

In 2014, a 1989 time capsule was unearthed during relocation of a monument at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

Clark College has done a better job of record-keeping; a time capsule containing mementos of the college’s 25th and 50th anniversaries was buried in 1984 and opened right on schedule in 2009. (Another Clark College time capsule was created that year, housed inside a sculpture titled “Scend” north of Gaiser Hall, and will be opened on Clark College’s 100th anniversary in 2034.)

In 1994, students at Salmon Creek Elementary School buried a time capsule under a McDonald’s playground at 13002 N.E. Highway 99, which was opened in 2014.

Students at Lieser School in Vancouver unburied their 1992 time capsule in 2017, only to find that it was missing and presumed stolen. Perhaps the thief would consider donating a few items to Vancouver’s next time capsule.

“I really hope people include items that reference the past, present and maybe the future,” Walker said, “because the next 100 years are remarkable to think about.”