Article Photos

HANLEY FALLS - The time capsule from the 100th-year celebration of Hanley Falls was the main attraction at the Minnesota Machinery Museum, but for most folks, the 125th year celebration Sunday was a time to reminisce about times much older than that.

Gary Velde was a member of the class of 1968, the last class to graduate from the school that used to be held in the building that now houses the museum.

"They just couldn't improve on our class," he quipped.

He shared a bit of trivia about his classmates.

"Two of us in our class of '68 have parents who were in the first class to graduate," he said. One was Velde's father, Leon; the other was Arlen Martin's mother, Hazel.

Earle Gustafson was born and raised in Hanley Falls and was a member of the first-grade class in 1940 that went to school all day for the first time. He recalled that Hanley Public School consolidated and was completed about 1940.

The old school was turned into the museum in 1980, "preserving the building," said Bonnie Gustafson.

"There aren't too many things that bring everyone back," she added. "One is the threshing show, and now this."

And then there was the time capsule - a small metal box, that contained items from as far back as the 1930s.

Unlike a lot of other time capsules, Hanley Falls' was never buried.

For some reason that was never clear, the city decided to leave the box at the museum and wrote on top that it should be opened June 10, 2009, said Mavis Gustafson, director of the museum.

The museum was only four years old at the time, said Lowell Gustafson, who was on the board then. Like most everyone else who was around 25 years ago, he didn't remember what they saved in the time capsule.

"I tried my house key in this," he said, gesturing to the time capsule's lock, "but it won't fit. She won't give me the key," he said, indicating his wife.

"I've had the key, but I haven't opened it," Mavis Gustafson said.

That honor went to Hanley Falls Mayor Rich Hagen, who opened the box and started pulling out the items one-by-one. The first thing was a coffee mug from the centennial celebration.

The box held a surprising number of items: newspapers, including one from 1939 when the museum building was dedicated as a school; photos, brochures, and a list of names from 1984. The last thing Hagen pulled out was a brochure from 1984 that had printed on it the history of Hanley Falls.

Hagen asked the assembled crowd for items to put back into the box, and the first thing that he held up was an old whistle shaped like a train and inscribed with "Tooting for Gordon R. Anderson."

Hagen said the box would remain open in the museum office for the next week for anyone who wanted to see what's in there before it will be locked again with faith that it will be re-opened in the future.

"Hanley has come a long way," said Bonnie Gustafson. "It's gone up and gone down, but we're still here."