A list of contributors to the time capsule buried below the courthouse lawn 50 years ago has been revealed by the Fayette Bicentennial Committee. The capsule was buried in 1973 as Fayette celebrated its sesquicentennial.

Now, as Fayette commemorates its 200th birthday, a new time capsule will be buried. Submissions are being sought for the new capsule, which will be buried during the Central Methodist University homecoming celebration on Saturday, October 28. It will be opened 50 years from now, in 2073.

Members of the bicentennial committee have set up booths at various events throughout the summer and are accepting entries every Saturday morning at the Urial Wright building on the west side of the courthouse square. The cost to include items is $10 each.

The concluding activity of the Fayette sesquicentennial celebration of 1973 was the burial of a special vault into which “a number of letters and articles were deposited.” The Advertiser reported that “the container is to be raised and opened in the year 2023.” The container was to “furnish townspeople of 50 years from now some idea of what was going on in Fayette in the summer of 1973.”

The container was raised from its resting place in the northwest corner of the courthouse lawn on June 3. Its contents have been examined and will be displayed and distributed at a ceremony honoring Fayette’s bicentennial year at 1 p.m. on August 5, during the Fayette Festival of the Arts. Among the items found in the 1973 container are letters from parents to children and grandchildren and special items from groups and organizations. These are listed below and can be claimed at the Festival.

Though some damage has occurred over the years, the Bicentennial Committee contends that every effort has been made to present everything from the container in its best possible condition.  

Contact Gary Bagby at (660) 728-2455 or Connie Shay at (660) 248-2011 for information. 

• American Association of University Women (Now AWE)

• All Year Round Club

• American Legion White-Bell Post 273

• Chapter AU of PEO

• Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

• Candy Stripers at Keller Memorial Hospital

• Central Methodist University

• Commercial Trust Co.

• Shaw Medical Clinic and Fayette Medical Clinic

• Girl Scouts

• Golden Study Club

• Howard County Daughters of the American Revolution

• Howard County Mental Health

• Master of Fayette Masonic Lodge # 47

• M.M.M. Club History

• Fayette Rotary Club

• Bethel/Smith Chapel Church

• First Baptist Church

• First Christian Church

• St. Mary’s Church

• Marion Barton Ballew

• Basye-Lanham Family; grandchildren of Harry C. and Ethyl S. Brown

• Sam H. Brown

• John Burke 

• Donald Harrison Burke 

• History of the George T. and Madora Jennings Crawford Family

• Barbara Devaney 

• Edward Dickey, Jr. 

• Heirs of Evan and Mary Diehls

Evan Christopher Diehls

• Kathy, David, and Darin Dougherty

• Descendants of S. F. Dwight 

• Lester and Kathryn Fehling

• Gayla Jo and Amy DeAnn Frink

• Lee and Eileen Gose

• Phillip E. and Paula B. Haggard

• John Hert

• Children of Don Hilgedick

• George and Pat Hilgedick

• Glenn and Patricia Hilgedick

• Sons of Mr. and Mrs. Delbert W. Himmelberg; Daniel and Anthony

• Janet, Elizabeth, and Bridget Hussey

• Thalia Jacob 

• Janet Linn, Julie Ann, Jennifer Sue, and Lew Wallace Jacobs IV

• Bill Johnmeyer

• Ray and Bertha Johnmeyer

• Christopher and Charles A. LaTurno

• Wynona and Howard McClammer

• Eugene and Della Miller

• Descendants of Milton and Christine Cooper Moon

• Sharyle Moore

• Jeffrey Moore

• Paul Wesley Moyer

• Leslie Perry

• Mitchel and Mark Peters

• E. E. Rich

• Matthew and Mark Robb

• D. C. Rogers

• Vickie, Terri, Lonnie, Chris, and Christy Rohlfing

• Tammy, Clint, and Michael Kirby

• Ann Schnell

• Children of W. D. Settle

• Dennis and Thomas Street

• Russell and Judy Strodtman

• Catherine Thogmorton and LuAnn Shaner

• Richard and Robert Trimble

• Martin Vance

• Leonard Young

• Rob, Mindy, and Lindsay Young