Category: University Trivia

Time Capsules on Campus

Posted on by Sammi Merritt

By Sammi Merritt

Following the 2024 discovery of time capsules in the cornerstones of the Main Library and McKinley Health Center, we have wondered whether there might be more “copper boxes” hidden throughout campus. Upon further investigation, it appears that these cornerstone boxes may be more common than we imagined.

Early 20th century newspaper articles indicate that it was a common practice – not only on campus, but around the world – to include such a “copper box” in new building cornerstones. In those days, as now, it was common to hold a cornerstone laying ceremony to lay the cornerstone for new buildings. Over 265 (digitized) articles from Illinois newspapers, including 30 articles from the Daily Illini, suggest that a core purpose of this ceremony was to fill and encapsulate these boxes within the cornerstone. On May 9, 1924, in anticipation of the cornerstone laying ceremony for McKinley Hospital (now McKinley Health Center), the Daily Illini states this clearly: “The big box that dominates every cornerstone laying is being filled with the numerous articles today…”

Programs and photos from these ceremonies, which were held for many new campus buildings, can be found in the Archives in record series 2/0/808 Building and Statue Dedication Programs and 39/2/20 Photographic Subject File, respectively. Many photographs from these ceremonies actually depict the copper box being enclosed within the cornerstone, such as the two from the McKinley Hospital ceremonies linked below.

Campus news sources covered the deposit of some boxes, but not all of them. Although the Champaign News Gazette published a list of the contents of the capsule in the Main Library’s cornerstone, The Daily Illini published nothing on the box. Conversely, The Daily Illini published many details about the copper boxes in McKinley Hospital and the Architecture Building’s cornerstones.

A full list of university buildings which are known (as of June 2025) to contain a copper box can be found below. It is possible that more will be discovered as additional sources are identified, and that more undocumented cornerstone boxes will come to light as buildings reach the end of their life on campus.

(Note that university buildings on the Chicago campus and local Champaign-Urbana buildings have been omitted from this list, but many of these buildings do contain copper boxes confirmed in the source below; notably the Champaign and Urbana City Buildings.)

[A copy of this blog post can be found in the Archives’ ready reference file on “Buildings, University.”]

University of Illinois Buildings Which Contain Time Capsules

All buildings with known or suspected time capsules are listed below, in chronological order of their cornerstone laying.

Four main sources were used to confirm the presence of time capsules/copper boxes in the following list:

The sources which confirm the presence of each box are included beneath the building name, with the digitized source linked where possible.

Legend

(Current building name [if different from original name])
[x] Building no longer exists
* Time capsule has already been retrieved
^ Indicates a time capsule that has been or will be replaced
[?] Suspected time capsule (not confirmed)

1871

  • University Hall [x]*
    [x] Building demolished in 1938.
    *Time capsule retrieved in 1938 and placed into the Gregory Hall cornerstone in 1939.

1892

  • Natural History Building

1896

1906

  • Auditorium (Foellinger Auditorium)

1907

1909

  • Osborne Hall (Chi Omega Sorority House)

1910

1912

  • Commerce Building (Old)
    [Note that The Daily Illini refers to this as the “New” Commerce Building, but this is 12 years before construction of the “New” New Commerce Building, which was dedicated on the same day as the “New” Library and “New” Gymnasium in 1924.]

  • 1912 Senior Memorial: “Eternal Flame”

1913

1914

1915

1916

  • Women’s Residence Hall (Busey Hall)

1917

  • Tina Weedon Smith Memorial Building (Smith Hall) [?]
    [?] Suspected to have a time capsule containing phonographic discs of the University Band due to mention of recordings made for this purpose in 1909 DI

1920

1922

1924

  • McKinley Hospital (McKinley Health Center) *^
    *Retrieved on March 24, 2025 as part of 100th Anniversary celebrations.
    ^To be replaced in 2025.

    • The Daily Illini, June 3, 1924, pp 7
    • See also: McKinley Hospital Addition (1961)
  • New Library (Main Library) *^
    *Retrieved in October 2024 as part of 100th Anniversary celebrations.
    ^To be replaced in 2025.

    • Champaign News Gazette, June 8, 1924, pp 1
    • The Daily Illini, June 6, 1924, pp 1
  • New Commerce Building (David Kinley Hall)
    • Champaign News Gazette, June 8, 1924, pp 1
    • The Daily Illini, June 6, 1924, pp 1
  • New Men’s Gymnasium (Huff Hall)
    • Champaign News Gazette, June 8, 1924, pp 1
    • The Daily Illini, June 6, 1924, pp 1

1926

1928

1930

1931

1934

1937

1939

1948

  • Mechanical Engineering Building

1951

1955

1958

1961

1962

1963

  • College of Education Building

1978

1981

1987

100 Years Later: The University Library Time Capsule

Posted on by Sammi Merritt

By Sammi Merritt

The University Library building celebrated its 100th anniversary on November 15, 2024. Leading up to the celebration, many Library units reached out to the University Archives looking for photos, historical material, and other support in the creation of exhibits to commemorate the occasion.

As the exhibit deadlines approached, the Archives received a final reference request from the Facilities Office: when the cornerstone for the building was laid in 1924, was a time capsule hidden inside?

Continue reading “100 Years Later: The University Library Time Capsule” →

Campus Mythbusting: Is there a bulldozer buried beneath Memorial Stadium?

Posted on by Sammi Merritt

By Sammi Merritt

A few weeks ago, the University Archives received a request from the Champaign News-Gazette regarding an oft-repeated claim about Memorial Stadium. The claim states: “During the construction a particularly rainy week caused a bulldozer to sink into the field, and it was determined that it would be cheaper to leave it in place rather than remove it.” Much like other campus myths, this trivia tidbit has never been linked to any documentary evidence, but it is a topic about which we have received regular inquiries. I decided to take up the question and look at every source that we have available. While understanding that it is far more difficult to prove that something did not happen than to prove that it did, I believe that there is sufficient evidence in the Archives to support the conclusion that this campus myth is highly unlikely to be true.

A thorough examination of the sources reveals that not only were bulldozers most likely not used in the Memorial Stadium construction project, but despite frequent setbacks due to poor weather conditions and the precarious financial situation of the project throughout its duration, there is no evidence to support the idea that large equipment would have been abandoned beneath the foundations of the building.

Continue reading “Campus Mythbusting: Is there a bulldozer buried beneath Memorial Stadium?” →

Overlooked Campus Landmarks Turn 150

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How many times have you gone down 4th St. by the Armory or Huff Hall? Probably hundreds of times, right? It so happens that when you do, you’re passing some of the last vestiges of the Illinois Industrial University, as the U of I was called 150 years ago.

Where are these vestiges? Just look up. It’s the trees—several tall, shaggy Austrian Pines, to be precise. They are all that’s left of a series of windbreaks that were planted 150 years ago this week, between June 1 and June 7, 1869.

With both Champaign and Urbana having Tree City USA designations today, it’s hard to believe that in 1868, when the first students arrived, the only landscape feature, aside from the lone sycamore south of Gregory Hall, was one, lone university building surrounded by acres and acres of open fields. It’s not surprising that one Trustee even said that “the University Building looked like a stake driven into the ground.” At least one student wrote home to bemoan the mud and desolation in which she found herself.

Enter the College of Agriculture, which in 1869 planted several windbreaks on what they considered the far edges of an imagined, future campus. They included a hedge of osage orange, many silver maples, Norway spruces, red cedar, and 110 Austrian pines planted along 4th street to protect the experimental orchards. It’s all described in considerable detail in the Trustee’s Report of March 1870, right down to the locations and how many feet apart they planted the trees.  At last, something besides a lone building existed on what was to become the tree-studded campus of one of the world’s great universities.

Want to see these original, living relics? There are still about a dozen of the Austrian Pines found on the east side of 4th St from just west of the Armory to the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Ave.  For one of the most distinctive groups, look for the five tall trees directly behind the construction sign for the Siebel Center for Design,  just south of Huff Hall.

Or, if you’re at the northeast corner of the Armory and 4th St., you’ll see a lone, tall tree standing like an umbrella. Stand by its trunk and look south to see the trunks of three more that are partially hidden from the street by lower growing trees.

A further one is near the southernmost door of Huff Hall. Until they were removed this spring, two more could be found immediately west of the Art and Design Building. All these trees date back to 150 years ago this week, making them the oldest mark left on the landscape by the University of Illinois. They even predate Mumford House, the oldest University building. There is nothing else on campus—not a building, not a marker—that connects so closely to the beginnings of this university.

It’s important to respect and pay attention to our landscape, especially when there are building projects, or else we’ll lose part of the identity of this university. It’s part of what makes this campus the attractive place that people remember.  The natural environment is fragile. Take note of these ‘monuments’ while they are still here.

University of Illinois Fun Facts

Posted on by Rory Grennan

Welcome, Archives blog enthusiasts and Urbana Sweetcorn Festival attendees! Below are the questions printed on the rally fans given away by the University Archives at the Festival this year, along with links to the answers. Enjoy!

Corn Maidens
Corn Maidens at the May Fete, 1915
Found in RS 39/2/20, ACT-7, May Fetes 1915

Continue reading “University of Illinois Fun Facts” →