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Mundo Rodriguez holds an issue of The Transporter from 1989 showing he and others planting the time capsule.

Time has come for Annex capsule to be opened Tuesday, Dec. 9

The late 1980s gave us a gallon of gas for under one dollar, first episodes of “The Simpsons,” the screaming-fast 486 series of microprocessor from Intel and Microsoft’s first version of its beloved Office software.

They also gave ITD employees an opportunity to plant a two-part time capsule in 1989, during the dedication of a grove of trees donated by the University of Idaho and located near the East Annex. The capsule is located in the landscape bed northeast of the Annex parking lot.

Marty Lytle, Reymundo Rodriguez, Patty Thomas and Mike Ryan helped wield shovels burying that container of history on that day.

It is 25 years later, and at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, time to unearth the first container. Each container has a plate bearing the time for its unveiling. The second container is to remain intact until 2090.

Rick Metzger worked on Grounds at the department in the 1980s and also helped put in the capsule.

“There is a picture of a group of us from Grounds and Maintenance in there along with pictures and items from different departments,” Metzger said in an email to Greg Larsen. “At the time, Human Resources and Executive Management were involved. It was a pretty big deal.”

Contributions may also be found from Idaho State Police, who shared space with ITD at that time, said Rodriguez, who admits that he was just 23 when the effort was immortalized in a photograph published in the February 1989 issue of the Transporter.

Another person on hand for the ceremony one-quarter of a century ago was Jeff Stratten, who recently quipped, “I am curious what the gold brick we buried will be worth today.”