Mayor Justin Elicker announced Monday that a committee, composed of Italian-American groups and others, will decide what will replace the statue of Christopher Columbus in Wooster Square. The base of the statue, however, may reveal what the Italian immigrants of almost 128 years ago thought about the statue and their life in New Haven.

On Oct. 12, 1892, the New Haven Evening Register reported on Page 1 there would be a celebration to lay the cornerstone of the Columbus statue. Buried in the story was a description of the statue and what was buried underneath — a time capsule.