When the walls of Maennerchor Hall came tumbling down, an old whisky bottle was found within a hollow pocket of the cornerstone. It was a piece of history corked and hidden.

"When our oldest son Gerrit was home visiting and knew that we were tearing it down, he told me to be sure to get the corner stone, there might be a time capsule inside," Connie Potts said.

Even though they had doubts that any such capsule existed, the Connie and Ron Potts decided to get the cornerstone anyway and hoped it wasn’t too late. After tons of block were tediously removed, the cornerstone was located and, indeed, a time capsule was inside.

On that Tuesday, Ron went to the site and was able to retrieve the cornerstone. Glendon Roach of Dakota Dirt found the time capsule in the cornerstone of the building and gave it to Ron unopened.

"I was at work and Ron and Colton, my grandson, could hardly stand it," Connie said. "They waited all day for me to get home so we could try to open the bottle." Connie teaches in the Claflin school district.

Coming out in pieces, Ron managed to remove the cork. Inside were two rolled-up papers. In trying to remove one, the edges began to crumble. Barely visible in small print on one piece of paper is a date of 1899.

"We decided to stop, we didn’t want to ruin what was inside and we really don’t want to break the bottle," Connie said.

Upon holding the bottle one can think back to the last time it saw daylight. There is still a faint scent of whiskey. Plans of how and when the bottle will be opened are pending.