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Pennsylvania politicians and leaders came together Wednesday at the Independence Visitor Center to unseal a secret 50 years in the making.
The secret wasn’t a private record or official testimony, but a time capsule sealed in a cardboard box.
Doing the honors of opening that time capsule was Catherine Simons, who was among the students at General George A. McCall School who sealed the capsule back in 1976. Aiding Simons in the unsealing were current elementary students from McCall who listened through speeches by local leaders before the capsule’s opening.
Speakers included Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty and America250PA Executive Director Cassandra Coleman. The diverse crowd included some who had sealed the capsule in 1976, local politicians and a group of high school students who’d traveled from across the state for a day of civic learning.
“This gavel I have right now I will give to another state representative one day,” said McClinton. “And there will be one of you leading the Pennsylvania House, one of you leading our state court systems, one of you in City Hall.”
The event was one of many America250 celebrations Philadelphia has hosted as the city serves as the epicenter of the nation’s 250th birthday.
After roughly 45 minutes of speeches, the capsule was opened to reveal a book full of pictures, newspaper clippings and letters from 1976. Its contents seemed to be foreign to the elementary schoolers who opened the capsule and likely grew up around more AI than handwritten letters. They stared blankly at the capsule’s contents, contrasting with the excited reactions from those who’d sealed it — they later flipped through it, looking for pictures of people they grew up with.
The time capsule was then resealed — this time with a letter from Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker — to be opened in 2076, 100 years after its original sealing.
Parker’s letter was included at the request of Frank L. Rizzo, Philadelphia’s mayor from 1972 to 1980, who helped launch the initiative.
The Pennsylvania high schoolers in attendance were brought to Philly through America250PA’s civics education program. The students then watched the legislative branch in action inside Congress Hall and sat down with members of Pennsylvania’s Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts at Carpenters’ Hall.
Their visit was designed to show how the history preserved in these buildings connects with the choices they’ll make as the Commonwealth’s next generation of voters, advocates and public servants.
Riverview High School senior Dmitri Hong, who traveled from Allegheny County, said the event inspired him.
“I’m very excited for what we’re gonna be doing next,” said Hong. “The content of all the speeches was really meaningful and pretty impactful to me.”
