Clay County opens 50 year old time capsule

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - Back in 1973, residents of Clay County celebrated their centennial with festivities including creating a time capsule dated to be opened in 2023. One Clay County senior who attended the event shared what the event meant to the residents 50 years ago.

“A lot of old timers were dressed in the attire of the period,” Rick Langford, a time capsule attendee said. “I don’t remember them reading any of it. They had a metal box where they put all the memorabilia in letters, pictures, and keepsakes. Just things people were writing to their children, grandchildren, even their unborn grandchildren, great-grandchildren.”

That time capsule was sealed and untouched until now. The purpose of the time capsule was to give future generations a sense of what life was like in the 70s.

“And there was a sheet metal container that everything was placed in, and sadly there was about a foot a half of water in that container that was very sad, so moved very quickly,” said Clay County Judge Mike Campbell.

There were some letters that were saved, but one letter couldn’t be saved.

“When you get ready to open that time capsule, I’m very interested in a letter that a friend of hers, it was her boyfriend. He had written a letter to her and put it in the time capsule, and she wanted to be able to read it. Sadly, a couple of weeks after that was sealed, he was killed in a car wreck,” said Judge Campbell.

Although Langford did not place anything in the time capsule, knowing the county opened it brought back memories.

“It makes me miss people that I looked up to, the seniors. The senior citizens of Henrietta that I grew up admiring and looking up to. It makes me miss them,” said Langford.

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