A100-year-old time capsule was opened yesterday at Cleveland Elementary School, much to the delight of current and former students and faculty. The time capsule, which was in the form of a copper box, had been discovered a few months ago embedded behind the cornerstone inside the front wall of the school. It took a while to dig it out of the concrete.

A former student and school volunteer, John Weidinger, had read about the time capsule in an old San Francisco Call newspaper story while researching the school's history for its upcoming 100th anniversary. The article said then-Mayor P.J. "Pinhead" McCarthy placed the box behind the cornerstone after the children sang "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Contents of the box included a letter from the Excelsior community addressed to the future mayor of San Francisco, about how the city was still recovering from the 1906 earthquake and the school was the only permanent structure on the block in 1910. The letter also spoke of how the community had rallied together to form Cleveland Elementary School, with the help of other communities in the city.