Lawrence residents gather symbols of city’s 150th year
Time capsule to be buried Sunday
Hovering toilets that float to your couch during TV commercial breaks.
Underground houses.
And mohawks. Lots of mohawks.
That’s 10-year-old Alesia Herd’s vision of Lawrence in the year 2054.
“But I think downtown will be the same,” she said. “It hasn’t changed much in 50 years.”
Alesia, a fifth-grader at Wakarusa Valley School, was one of hundreds of Lawrence residents who wrote messages to be included in a time capsule commemorating the city’s sesquicentennial.
The capsule will be buried during a ceremony Sunday at Sesquicentennial Point, near Clinton Lake across from the off-leash dog park. The capsule is scheduled to be opened during the city’s bicentennial celebration in 2054.
Sunday’s events start with music at 3 p.m. and a ceremony at 4 p.m. The program will include a time for attendees to drop a small item into the vault.
The capsule burial is part of the weekend celebration of the 150th anniversary of the city’s founding.
The more than 300 items to be included in the time capsule should be in good condition when future Lawrence residents open it. The items will be sealed in a burial vault, measuring 9 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet high, provided by Warren-McElwain Mortuary.
The vault will be vacuum-sealed before being buried.
Bruce Roberts, a Sesquicentennial Commission member, has collected items from Lawrence businesses and residents that will be stored in the city's time capsule. Roberts, pictured Wednesday at his home, will help bury the time capsule Sunday at Sesquicentennial Point.
“In order to get it open in 50 years, they’ll probably have to use a backhoe to tear open the top,” said Larry McElwain, co-owner of Warren-McElwain. “The biggest issue will be getting it open. It can be done, but they’ll have to destroy the time capsule.”
Bruce Roberts, a member of the Lawrence Sesquicentennial Commission, has been in charge of gathering items for the capsule. The wide-ranging mementos include restaurant menus, movie posters, a book on the Atkins diet, magazines and newspapers.
“Probably 80 percent of this is not obtainable in 50 years,” Roberts said. “It’ll have instructions not to be opened until the bicentennial. “I hope they’ll look back on 2004, see the things and have that fun reaction to it. Also, it’s more symbolic as a community: How do we celebrate our history and embrace our future?”
That future was the focus for Wakarusa Valley students earlier this school year as they drew pictures and wrote messages to those who will open the vault. Those messages — about 500 from Lawrence school children — and 90 letters from other residents also will be included in the capsule.
Sara Golden, a sixth-grader, said she hoped to be a veterinarian and live on a ranch in 2054. But she said she had a hard time imagining what life would be like in 50 years.
“I’ll be even older than my teachers are right now,” the 12-year-old said.
Lucas Suchy, 9, said he wanted to illustrate fairy-tale books by 2054. And though he didn’t think life would be much different then, one thing will have changed.
“I’ll have wrinkles,” he said.
6News video: Lawrence trinkets to be buried in time capsule (09-16-04)
Sesquicentennial schedule
