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The story behind what s hidden beneath the Ben Franklin Statue in SF s Washington Square Park
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A statue of Benjamin Franklin is seen in the center of Washington Square Park in San Francisco on Feb. 5, 2021. In the pedestal of the statue is a time capsule that was place inside in 1979 and will be opened in 2079.Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
It’s unclear what Dr. Henry Cogswell was trying to say about the life of San Franciscans in 1879 when he placed a string of buttons in his time capsule in Washington Square Park.
Perhaps it went just as he planned, playing a joke 100 years in the making, as Supervisor John Molinari immediately broke the string during the 1979 unveiling, scattering buttons everywhere during the ceremony. ....

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