Clinton County officials opened a time capsule this morning. North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley was there to see what was saved for the future 50 years ago.
Anticipation was high to discover what was behind a plaque that has been affixed to the wall at the west entrance of the Clinton County Government Center. Joshua Kretzer is a current Area 9 legislator.
“It’ll be interesting to see the perspective potentially of where people’s minds were in 1976, the events, the happenings, priorities. I’m just excited to learn. Our area has such a rich history and every year we celebrate year after year the amazing history of the North Country. And I know that everyone will find something to learn from what’s inside these boxes.”
Former Assemblywoman Janet Duprey was on the County Legislature in 1976. She is one of only a few surviving legislators from 1976 and 50 years later says she can’t remember what is in the time capsule.
“It was the bicentennial and so we had talked about, in fact in 1975 is when we talked about doing the time capsule. And then we followed through in 1976 when the actual bicentennial events were taking place. That was 50 years ago and I haven’t a clue what I have in there!”
Using crowbars, staff removed the 200-pound plaque to reveal what had been placed in the alcove behind.
"There’s a bunch of stuff in there!"
Clinton County Legislative Chair Mark Henry removed the first of 10 boxes.
“When we began preparing for today’s ceremony we thought that we would be opening the time capsule, take out a box and then we’d look inside it and see what was there. To our surprise, we discovered that there are actually 10 boxes, all of these gray boxes along here, were sealed up in the time capsule. We had no idea that that was going to happen.”
Duprey opened the first box and found a book on the history of the town of Chazy, photos and documents. Henry picked up an artifact from a second box.
“We have a set of shackles from the Town of Dannemora! If anybody would like to wear these, let me know!”
Speaking to the gathered crowd, Henry said the event is more than just about an opening of the time capsule.
“It’s about remembering where we came from, recognizing the people who served our community and preserving a piece of our lives today for the generations who will follow us. There’s something deeply human about what we are doing here today. Fifty years ago, people in this community took the time to leave a message for the future. They wanted to leave something behind for those who would follow. In a sense that impulse is as old as humanity itself. We build monuments. We write books. We preserve photographs and we tell our stories because we want the future to know that we were here, what we valued and what we hoped for.”
The 200 pound plaque will be replaced with a new one, and a new time capsule will be placed in the alcove.
