Century-old time capsule found at former YMCA; contents donated to Norwalk museum

Workers demolishing the former YMCA on Tuesday found a time capsule embedded in the building’s date stone. On Friday, officials met with Todd Singewald and Rocco Bellantoni of Complete Dismantling Services to open the nearly 100-year-old time capsule.

Inside the lead-walled box was a Bible, a newspaper article, a fountain pen and two coins. They were donated to the Norwalk Museum.

Singewald said the company always looks for time capsules when demolishing old buildings. The datestone was on the exterior wall of the Y, facing West Ave. near the entrance to the building. Singlewald said that, before discovering the time capsule within it, he had planned on cutting out the datestone and keeping it. He’s a native of Norwalk.

Norwalk Historical Society Secretary David Westmoreland said the date stone will be placed in the museum’s garden and its contents will go on display inside.

Westmoreland was talking about having the box completely removed from the stone.

The newspaper was The Examiner. According to Wikipedia, the only Examiner newspaper in Connecticut is in Old Lyme.

Both coins inside were from 1926: a Mercury dime and a silver quarter.