Tuscaloosa bicentennial commission seeks info on missing time capsule

Elizabeth McGiffert was intrigued.

McGiffert, a lawyer in Tuscaloosa who is also the events chairman for the Tuscaloosa 200 Bicentennial Commission, was doing research about the city’s past when she came across information on the Tuscaloosa Sesquicentennial in 1969, which marked the 150th anniversary of the city’s founding.

As she looked through all the sesquicentennial programs, McGiffert found out about a special ceremony that was to take place on April 26, 1969, the final day of the weeklong celebration.

“10:00 A.M. — Time Capsule Ceremony on the Tuscaloosa County Court House steps. In a container will be placed records, comments, and messages which may be of interest in the year 2019 which will be our 200th anniversary,” the program read.

“I got so excited as I was reading it,” McGiffert said.

Through her own research into the mysterious capsule, McGiffert dug up an issue of The Tuscaloosa News printed on April 27, 1969, which included a story about the ceremony. The article, written by former staff writer Bob Kyle, noted that the capsule would be made of marble, be approximately 4 feet high and 40 inches wide, and would be placed inside the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse under a portrait of the late Alabama Gov. William Brandon.

However, the article said the capsule was supposed to have been buried that day but wasn’t, and would be buried “later.” No followup has been found for when the capsule was buried or if it was ever buried in the first place.

These are questions McGiffert and others have been trying to answer with the hopes that the capsule could be found and opened during the city’s 200th anniversary later this year.

“My mission has been to try and find it,” she said. “We’re making a plea to the community for any information on this capsule.”

However, there are some who question whether the capsule is actually inside the courthouse. McGiffert consulted with Bill Lamb, Tuscaloosa County’s finance director, who has worked in the courthouse since 1982.

Lamb has his own questions about the information on this capsule.

“It seems like it’s virtually impossible it is where it (article) says it is,” Lamb said.

The place in question is to the immediate left when one enters the front of the courthouse. Where Brandon’s portrait once was hung now hangs a painting of longtime probate judge Hardy McCollum, surrounded by marble walls that were imported from Italy.

Lamb said that despite renovations to the building over the years, the part of the building where the capsule is allegedly buried has not been touched over the years. There is also no section of the building that mentions the capsule or any way to retrieve it, if it is actually there.

Lamb said the last Tuscaloosa County politician who may have had information about the capsule was former county commissioner John W. Foster, who served five terms on the commission before retiring in the early 1990s. He died in 2012.

Nonetheless, McGiffert is hopeful to find some kind of information on where the capsule is and what is inside it.

“I would love more information,” she said. “There is someone out here that remembers something about this time.”

Anyone with information on where this capsule is is encouraged to contact McGiffert at edm1116@yahoo.com.

Meanwhile, the Tuscaloosa Bicentennial Commission has events planned all year to mark the city’s 200th year.

The next big event is the Bicentennial Bash on March 30 at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, a free concert featuring Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, the Commodores and more.

For more information about the bicentennial, go to www.tuscaloosa200.com.

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.