BOSTON. Mayor Thomas Menino highlighted the recent renewal of Dudley Square in Roxbury yesterday by unveiling a time capsule from 1922 that was discovered during the demolition of Dudley’s Ferdinand Building. The contents of the capsule — including old newspaper articles and a list of employees of the former Ferdinand furniture store — were given to the Roxbury Historical Society and its chairman, Representative Byron Rushing, in commemoration of contributions made to the area by African-Americans.
“This is a great piece of history that we are doing today,” Rushing said. He read excerpts from the relics along with the names of former Ferdinand employees, some of whose relatives were sitting in the crowd.
Menino cited several projects marking the revitalization of Dudley Square and Senator Diane Wilkerson encouraged community members to submit ideas for a new time capsule, to be placed in the Square’s new municipal building. “Things are changing,” she said. “We’d like to think that they are changing for the better.”