Last night on the local Fox affiliate’s 9 p.m. newscast (KRIV-26), there was a story about a time capsule being found at the old Harris County criminal courts building which is currently undergoing renovation. The deep-thinking reporter suggested that we could learn a lot from the past to make the future better.
The Chronicle‘s story on the time capsule highlights a few of the items found inside:
His recollection sparked a search, and the time capsule was found in January. On Tuesday the Commissioners Court learned of its contents, which included 19th century Texas rail tokens, a local phone book and a news report on the dedication by Marvin Zindler.
[snip]
Many of its contents are prosaic. But it does include an 1883 token used to buy a meal on Galveston Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway and an 1883 token for Austin City Railroad.
(emphasis added)
You don’t suppose there was a time when you actually had to pay to ride the train, do you? Maybe that KRIV-26 reporter was onto something when he said we could learn from the past.