Jacksonville buries time capsule at city hall grounds for 2076 opening

Jacksonville has tucked a new time capsule into the southeast corner of the city hall grounds at Douglas and Sandy, pairing the burial with a flat marker so future residents can find it again. The capsule is set to be opened in 2076, giving the project a 50-year span that turns a civic gesture into a message aimed squarely at the next generation.

Mayor Andy Ezard said the location is fitting, and he noted that the city had trouble finding the last capsule, a practical lesson that shaped the new site choice. Jacksonville originally planned to bury the capsule on the square, but underground electrical lines forced city leaders to move the burial to city hall grounds instead. The shift showed how a symbolically important project still had to give way to the realities beneath public property.

Ginny Fanning and a committee were credited for organizing the effort, which had already been marked by a ceremony on the square last month before a city council meeting. The burial on June 17 served as the final step in a longer community project that asked residents to think about what should speak for Jacksonville half a century from now. Earlier this year, the city collected letters for the bicentennial time capsule, with preservation envelopes priced at $20 each and available at the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce at 155 West Morton. Residents were asked to turn in letters by Monday, March 2, 2026.

The city’s latest capsule also carries the weight of precedent. In 2025, Jacksonville opened its 1975 sesquicentennial time capsule during bicentennial celebrations, and the Jacksonville Area Museum later sorted, cleaned and displayed items from it after the capsule was removed from Jacksonville Central Park. Among the objects preserved for a previous generation were shoes, a football uniform, magazines, newspapers, menus, eight-track tapes and letters to individuals and families.

That older capsule gives the new one its civic meaning. Jacksonville is not just burying objects at city hall grounds; it is deciding which details of daily life, public pride and local identity should survive until 2076.