Time capsule unearthed after 50 years under Muse Park
As the crowd gathered at Muse Park Wednesday afternoon for the unearthing of the City of Jackson’s time capsule that was buried in 1972, Eboni Cunningham was one who was waiting for the situation to transpire with as much invested in it as anyone.
Her father, Bobby Cunningham, would bring her to Muse Park when she was growing up, and he brought her to the marker where the time capsule was and showed it to her.
“He told me, ‘When you’re 36 years old, they’re going to dig this up, and I want you to be here if I can’t be,’” Eboni Cunningham said.
Bobby, who owned a limousine service in Jackson, died unexpectedly in 2013. And when Eboni turned 36 earlier this year, she remembered what her father told her and began looking up when the time capsule was set to be exhumed and opened, June 1, 2022.
“I’m a nurse in California, so I planned my vacation around being here just for this,” Eboni said.
The capsule, which was placed inside a burial vault, was taken to Jackson State Community College to be opened in a climate-controlled space, where the contents would be properly catalogued before being put on display at Jackson City Hall on Monday.
Eboni was set to travel back to California on Friday, but Bicentennial Chair Elaine Christian said Eboni would be able to see what her father, who was 18 years old in 1972, put into the capsule.
The event was part of the year-long Bicentennial Celebration that is happening in Jackson and Madison County until August.
There will be another capsule buried on Aug. 13 during the finale weekend at Bicentennial Point, which will be at the corner of Lafayette Street, Main Street and Airways Boulevard in Downtown Jackson.
“We’ll be taking items to be considered for this year’s capsule,” said Trey Cleek, the chairman of the Time Capsule Committee for the Bicentennial Commission. “We’ll take those until July 31.”
As the City of Jackson workers began to do the work to retrieve the older capsule this week, no one knew how big the capsule would be, how deep it was or what would be in it.
“People have been asking me what’s in it,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger, whose grandfather, Bob Conger, was the mayor in 1972. “But no one left me a form with a list of items in the time capsule.”
The capsule was buried near the pond at Muse Park just off North Parkway with a concrete slab and marker on it donated by the parents of Mary Jo Middlebrooks, who’s now a lawyer in Jackson.
“I’m really appreciative of Miss Middlebrooks’ family for doing that because in doing research for this we found other cities who did things like this like Tuscaloosa, Ala., who couldn’t find where it was buried,” Cleek said.
Once the slab was removed, the front loader reached a casket vault a few feet below where the concrete slab had lain for 50 years.
Jackson Police escorted the vault to Jackson State, and various officials and committee members have processed the items in preparation for Monday’s unveiling at City Hall.
Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Time capsule unearthed after 50 years under Muse Park
