After 50 years, it's high time we learn what's in the capsule
Thursday, January 20, 2005
By JOHN PECK Times Staff Writer
jpeck@htimes.com


Fifty years of Huntsville history will come to light today when a backhoe unearths a time capsule bearing artifacts from the city's 150th anniversary celebration in 1955.
The backhoe will begin the dig at 1 p.m. on the southeast lawn of the Madison County Courthouse, right across from Harrison Brothers Hardware.
Former local television news anchors Tom Kennamer and Missy Ming will emcee.
Planners have an idea what's inside the capsule (it's actually a vault), but they're bracing for surprises because personal recollections and recorded lists have sometimes contradicted each other.

"Until we open the top, we really don't know for sure what's in it," Mary Jane Caylor, executive director of the Huntsville Bicentennial Commission, said Wednesday.
Organizers will break the seal on site and transfer the contents piecemeal into a specially prepared container on a 1927-model fire truck. The artifacts will be moved in a parade to the historic Weeden House, where they will be housed for public viewing. Archivists want to ensure the items have been properly documented and prepared before being put on display Feb. 1.
Contents of the vault should include, among other things:


  • A film reel of Huntsville's sesquicentennial events in 1955.
  • A list of first-graders in city and county schools then.
  • 2000 population guesstimates from city high school class presidents.
  • Predictions of Huntsville's progress from 1955 to 2005.
  • A hardcover sesquicentennial edition book of Huntsville's history and recorded greetings from area leaders.
  • A commemorative sesquicentennial edition of The Times.

Also reportedly in the vault is a $100 savings bond from First National Bank. The money, including interest, "is to be paid to the individual or his heirs whose estimate is nearest the population of Huntsville in the year 2000," records the report. "It's supposed to be worth about $1,000," Caylor said. The 2000 Census, disputed by city officials, reported 158,216 people in Huntsville; the 1955 population was 51,251.


There were only three city high schools in 1955: Huntsville, Butler and Councill. Class presidents then were John Purdy, brother of Mayor Loretta Spencer, at Huntsville; Cecil Lodell Walker, who now lives in Ocean, Miss., at Butler; and Robert Clift, now deceased, at Councill. Carla Clift, a librarian at Alabama A&M University, will represent her father at the vault retrieval and opening. Purdy, director of Laughlin Funeral Home, also will attend. It's not known if Walker or a member of his family would be present.


Caylor said the bicentennial committee continues to field calls from people claiming knowledge of documents or artifacts that were buried in the vault. Some have requested that an item remain private.


"They believe these are very personal letters to their family," Caylor said. "I'm sure people have personal reasons like they may have been led to believe this is something that would be given privately to their grandchildren."


Caylor said the committee must weigh privacy issues against whatever historical value the item would have. "We'll just have to address it when we get to it," she said. City Attorney Peter Joffrion said Wednesday that items in the time capsule are considered public documents.
Today's ceremony marks the official kickoff of Huntsville's bicentennial events. This summer, activities will include parades, outdoor concerts, a massive fireworks show, the dedication of a downtown water park and the burial of another time capsule.