The Brief
- Construction crews found a time capsule hidden inside a six-foot-thick wall of Fort Snelling’s Round Tower during restoration work earlier this year.
- The capsule was traced back to 1970, the last time a major renovation of the tower took place.
- Staff at Fort Snelling have now placed a new 2026 time capsule inside the wall, filled with items from today.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Workers restoring Fort Snelling’s Round Tower made an unexpected discovery earlier this year: a time capsule sealed inside a six-foot-thick wall, untouched for decades.
A hidden piece of history
What we know:
Fort Snelling has stood since 1820, making it Minnesota’s oldest standing structure. During peak restoration work to rebuild the Round Tower brick by brick earlier this year, construction crews uncovered a time capsule buried deep inside the wall.
“It was definitely a surprise, because as I said, we had no records of it,” said Brian Liesinger.…