DETROIT, Updated 12:41 p.m. EDT May 11, 2001-- The Motor City's 300th birthday celebration got under way Sunday night when Mayor Dennis Archer opened a time capsule sealed at Old City Hall shortly after midnight, Jan. 1, 1901.
Archer opened the 10-pound copper box that was soldered shut by city official Benjamin Franklin Guiney. Guiney's grandson of the same name was among the 2,000 guests expected at Saturday night's Detroit Symphony Orchestra New Year's Eve Gala.
"I went out and bought a new tuxedo," said Guiney, who lives in Grosse Pointe Park. "This is going to be quite the deal, isn't it?"
The gala was the opening salvo in a tricentennial celebration that includes a July re-enactment of explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac's landing in 1701 and a Detroit River parade of tall ships.
Detroit had only 300,000 residents at the turn of the last century. Chief industries were stove-making, shipbuilding and railroad cars.
Ford Motor Co. wouldn't be founded for a couple of years. And decorative electric lights strung on Old City Hall still drew astonished gasps.
Mayor William C. Maybury invited about 60 distinguished Detroiters to contribute summaries "on good paper" of the city's cultural and economic accomplishments. He also asked for a prophecy or two about the brave new world 100 years hence.
The box contained a letter from Maybury, photographs, memorabilia and letters from Detroit citizens.
Maybury had invited about 60 distinguished Detroiters to contribute summaries "on good paper" of the city's cultural and economic accomplishments. He also asked for a prophecy or two about the brave new world 100 years hence.
"Our desire is to convey to you across the long span of the century as clear an insight as is possible into the social, religious, moral, commercial and political affairs of Detroit," Maybury wrote in an explanatory letter. "It will be to you a testimony from living witnesses of the events which they chronicle and conditions which they describe."
He expressed a hope that Detroiters starting the 21st century will see "what advancement you have made from the modest beginnings to which we are witnesses.
The letters and box will be displayed at the Detroit Historical Museum beginning on Jan. 3, 2001.
A group called Detroit 300, which is organizing the yearlong extravaganza, will announce a competition for what to put in a new time capsule in July.
Archer announced Sunday that Detroit will continue the tradition begun by Maybury when a tricentennial time capsule is sealed on Dec. 31, 2001 to remain sealed until 2101.
Maybury conceded that few present in 1901 were likely to see 2001. A woman who was an infant then, however, is bringing three generations of relatives to the festivities.
"I just want to see what's in it," Louisiana Hines, 102, told The Detroit News for a report Sunday. "Oh, Lordy, it's been so long."
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