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Newspapers included in a time capsule buried of the Bahr Treatment Center of the state hospital. It was recovered this summer.
Ryan Delaney/WFYIFifty-seven years after it was buried, a time capsule was discovered on the grounds of the old Indiana state hospital on the west side of Indianapolis. It was placed there July 23, 1958.
"We had no clue" it was there, said Derek Naber, a project manager for the city’s metropolitan development department.
News footage from the groundbreaking ceremony for the Bahr Treatment Center was included in the capsule. It shows elected officials and hospital executives talking about what finders of the capsule will know about successes and failures of medical research done at the hospital.
"You could tell from some of the audio their intention was to put a time capsule so that when the building was demolished they would find out why they were doing this, why they were building this building, why were they doing the things they were doing at Central State in terms of treatment for patients," Naber said. "And it’s just fascinating to see their thinking and logic at that time."
The hospital the Bahr building was a part of is now closed, shuttered in 1992. The site is being converted to residential and business grounds. Some historical structures have been preserved and will remain.
The capsule was full of news coverage and speeches given at the ceremony. Newspapers from that day placed in the capsule show headlines of a United Nations summit on Lebanon. There are also pictures of the building and grounds and transcripts of remarks made by former Gov. Harold Handley and hospital officials.
Television news footage found in the capsule:
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