A San Francisco school says it has just learned it contains a time capsule deposited 100 years ago and then forgotten.

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Mayor P.H. "Pinhead" McCarthy put a copper box in the wall of Cleveland Elementary School when he dedicated it in 1910 and covered it with the cornerstone.

The only evidence of its existence was one sentence in a Sept. 19, 1910, newspaper article that former Cleveland student John Weidinger, 69, found while doing research for the school's centennial at the San Francisco Public Library.

No one knows what's in the box. Cleveland principal Kristin Tavernetti hopes to find 100-year-old "kid stuff," while some of the children speculate it may hold gold coins.

Unfortunately, the cornerstone is behind a well-loved mural painted in the mid-1990s by artist Susan Cervantes. The mural already needs restoration and Cervantes will be brought back for touch-ups, said David Goldin, the school district's chief facilities officer.

Goldin also is anxious to keep the cornerstone safe during the excavation. He says he will attempt the operation over the winter break.