A Time Capsule at Maple Leaf Gardens

The Toronto press has made a big deal of a “time capsule” found during the reconstruction of Maple Leaf Gardens. This time capsule was placed in the structure secretly in 1931 and it was opened recently to discover an old newspaper, hockey rule book and a small ivory elephant. Wow, that stuff is eighty one years old.

               Toronto is much older than that and even existed before 1812 although with a different name when it was invaded and burned by the American army. Since then Americans have come in peace along with people from many other countries. The city was a quiet more or less unexciting place when Maple Leaf Gardens was built but livened up significantly when immigrants arrived from Europe and later from Hong Kong and other places after 1950. The baby boomer cohort was growing up about the same time creating many new citizens for whom history began about 1958 when Elvis Presley joined the US Army.

               Why, you may ask, is he ragging on about this “time capsule”? Here’s why. My life began about the time the Gardens was built. I was born in July 1932 so figure it out. If there is a “time capsule” it is me and not a copper box buried in the footings of a hurriedly constructed hockey rink. A true “time capsule” should be found after more than one hundred years, better still two hundred years.

               Okay, for most people now living in Toronto and environs 80 years is a long time and so anything that old is truly an historical artifact. I sometimes feel like an artifact, possibly even a dinosaur. I guess my turn to be in a box buried somewhere may not be long coming but in the meantime I’ll continue as a living artifact.

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