It's Tukwila's time to unearth treasure

One town's trash is another town's ... time capsule.

Celebrating its centennial, Tukwila in 1978 buried just that, to be opened Monday, its official birthday.

The vessel recruited to store and protect the documents? A medium-sized, metal garbage can, duct-taped around the rim for added moisture protection.

It was former Mayor Ed Bauch, then leader of the burg of some 4,000 people, who decided a time capsule would be of some use and entertainment to the next generation.

The only problem: He didn't know how to make one, said his daughter Barbara Heavey.

He did some research and determined the modest garbage can, lined with a black, standard-issue garbage bag, would stand up to the job. "It was his baby, all the way," added his widow, Ethel Bauch, 83.

City workers unearthing the garbage can from under a ceremonial stone (laid by a local Masonic lodge 30 years ago) knew what they were looking for. But knowledge of the can's contents, not so much.

A few theories floated around the group of more than 50 in attendance, many of them former city workers.

"Something disco," said Marlus Francis, a recreation coordinator with Tukwila's Parks and Recreation Department.

Steve Batz, another parks and recreation worker, went for a different angle.

"Something with the original Southcenter [Mall], our economic mecca," he said.

Maxine Anderson sat waiting for the capsule to surface, her look giving away that she knew more than others.

Anderson, 79, was the city clerk when the garbage can/time capsule went in the ground. She knew some letters were in there, one, specifically, that she had written to the current city clerk, along with other city documents.

After a worker sliced through the duct tape, Mayor Jim Haggerton took the first turn reaching into the can. He raised the document from its dark, damp home: a manila envelope addressed to the fire chief.

City Council members took turns. Officials spread the bounty on a table: land-use packets, a list of city employees, a phone book and the 1978 budget.

Drawings from Tukwila Elementary School students also emerged. One student returned Monday: Josh Patton, 39, proudly displayed his work of third grade, the message "Be Cool Obey the Rule."

Several bumper stickers and buttons from the past proudly proclaimed, "Tukwila, next to the largest city in Washington."

Thirty years and 14,000 additional people later, the city slogan today is "Tukwila life."

So was all this just trash in a can or treasure from the past? The Tukwilan eye seemed to suggest the latter. City employees laughed about the memories that returned with aged documents.

Even the budget, the city's spokeswoman said, got some giggles — city humor.

Sean Rose: 206-464-2292 or srose@seattletimes.com