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June 1997

Remembering When ...

On April 9, 1923, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve buried a time capsule in the cornerstone of its new headquarters building at Fifth Street and Marquette Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.

That time capsule was unearthed in 1974 during a renovation of the granite facade and after the Minneapolis Fed had moved to a new building. Inside the sealed copper box were items that reflected the origins and early history of the Federal Reserve System and the Ninth Federal Reserve District. Nearly half the contents related to the national effort to finance World War I. As the government's fiscal agent, the Federal Reserve played a key role in financing the war, and the time capsule contained newsletters, posters and other memorabilia that were part of this national effort to sell savings bonds and stamps.

Also included were local newspapers and regional banking magazines with articles on prohibition, coal strikes, April snowstorms, wheat surpluses and bank fraud.

Although that process was not repeated with the 1973 move to the present location, bank staff recently assembled materials for the new Federal Reserve building's time capsule. Items reflect current operations and employee life at the bank. Photos and information related to construction of the new building, as well as current bank and local news publications, were also included. Two sets of materials were gathered, and the duplicate set sealed in a separate container and stored in the bank's archives to be opened at a later date—perhaps the 100th anniversary of the Minneapolis Fed in 2014.

—Patti Lorenzen