Public Safety Building time capsule unsealed after 53 years

Posted: 5:48 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 21, 2019

A 53-year-old time capsule memorializing the history of emergency responders in Winnipeg was unveiled Tuesday.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2019 (1949 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 53-year-old time capsule memorializing the history of emergency responders in Winnipeg was unveiled Tuesday.

Welders unsealed the time capsule after it was removed last year from the cornerstone of the former Public Safety Building, where it was placed Nov. 30, 1965, a few months before the downtown building opened.

The PSB was once the headquarters for city police, firefighters, emergency communicators in the signals department and the magistrate court. Now, the structure awaits demolition after the Winnipeg Police Service relocated in 2016.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane opens the contents of a time capsule placed within the Public Safety Building on November 30, 1965 with city archivist Sarah Ramsden (left) and mayor Brian Bowman at city hall in Winnipeg on Tuesday. — MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane opens the contents of a time capsule placed within the Public Safety Building on November 30, 1965 with city archivist Sarah Ramsden (left) and mayor Brian Bowman at city hall in Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Photographs, badges, buttons and statistics were held within the capsule, along with an audio recording of the time capsule ceremony in 1965, featuring comments from the police chief, fire chief and city signals engineer of the day.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief John Lane, Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth and city archivists wore gloves as they inspected the more-than-50-year-old photos and documents during a news conference at city hall Tuesday.

It was the first time envelopes were unsealed on behalf of each of the emergency response departments, who saved them in the time capsule before the building opened.