MANSFIELD — Jeff Sprang once wondered if he’d be standing exactly where he was, 50 years in the future, bearing witness to history once more.
He did just that on a sweltering July 4th afternoon, camera in hand just like the old days, documenting the opening of Mansfield’s time capsule from 1976.
Sprang photographed the ceremonial placement of that time capsule a half century ago as a photographer for the Mansfield News Journal.
He returned downtown to witness its retrieval on Saturday.
“I forgot about it and then in the last five or six years I thought, ‘Wait a minute, we’re getting closer. I hope I live long enough to see it be opened,'” said Sprang, now 74.
“It’s kind of cool, because most time capsules are 100 years and on those, there’s pretty much nobody around who was there when they planted it. Fifty years is doable.”
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry removed the contents of the time capsule, holding them up to show a small crowd of spectators in front of city hall.
They included a book of stamps, American bicentennial memorabilia, several local and national newspapers, programs from the Mansfield Playhouse and Mansfield Symphony Orchestra and letters from then-U.S. Senator John Glenn and then-Mayor of Mansfield Richard Porter.
Porter’s letter referenced an optimism for the city’s future — and dreams that are still being realized amid a revitalization project downtown.
“We believe Mansfield is on the move, despite the apparent decay of downtown,” Porter wrote. “We see a spark of hope for downtown, perhaps that spark will ignite the fire needed to make downtown a thriving area once again, as it was in the 40s and 50s.”
“We have dreams for tomorrow that include a rejuvenated and growing Mansfield. We want our heirs to enjoy the good life. If you are, then we are moving in the right direction in 1976,” Porter’s letter concluded.
Time capsule contents will be on public display, details TBA
City officials will soon replace the 1976 time capsule with a 2026 one, to be opened 50 years from now.
The new time capsule will include a letter and official proclamation from Perry commemorating the nation’s 250th birthday, notes from a group of local third graders about their hopes for the future and other commemorative items.
Perry said the items from the 1976 time capsule will be on display at city hall soon for public perusal. The city will announce further details on where and when to see the items and when this year’s time capsule will be officially placed.
The time capsule will likely be installed where the 1976 one was placed — in a pillar, just above another time capsule. That one was installed at the turn of the 21st century and will be opened in 2050.
Sprang said Mansfield’s 1976 time capsule was sealed for almost half a century. While there was a dedication ceremony on July 4, 1976, it wasn’t sealed until the following Veterans Day.
“They put it in there on Veterans Day because that was the bicentennial year and they wanted to have all the stuff in the bicentennial year in the time capsule, and that’s why they didn’t do it on July 4,” he said.
Sprang wasn’t the only person there who recalled standing in front of City Hall during the installation of the 1976 time capsule.
Others included Marilyn Burchett, who remembers observing the time capsule while a 10th gradeer at Malabar High School.
“It was very exciting. Mansfield had a big parade that year,” she said.
Suzanne Griggs of Westerville doesn’t quite recall that day — but she’s confident she was there.
Her father, Col. Albert Allen Jr., was a World War II veteran who spent decades at the helm of the city’s Memorial Day parades. He was also a member of the local bicentennial committee, Griggs said.
She believes he would have been pleased with the unveiling and other festivities downtown, including a speech on the Declaration of Independence and the rededication of the Vasbinder Foundation.
“My father loved his country, so he would love the patriotism and to see the younger people learning about it,” she said of the day’s festivities.
