CITY SETS JAN. 4 FOR OPENING OF 1956 TIME CAPSULE

A time capsule buried in Cape Girardeau holds the key to planning the city's 200th birthday celebration.

A committee appointed to plan the 200th anniversary of the establishment of a trading post in what is now Cape Girardeau will use documents inside the capsule to plan the event. They will also solicit help from organizers of the city's 150th anniversary observance.

At a news conference Monday, Bicentennial Commission Chairman Melvin Gateley announced that the time capsule, buried during the city's Sesquicentennial in 1956, will be opened as part of bicentennial observances.

The capsule is buried at the Common Pleas Courthouse Park in Cape Girardeau. It contains city mementos from 1956 and documents depicting the city's sesquicentennial celebration. It will be opened on Jan. 4 at 2 p.m.

The Bicentennial Commission hopes to use the contents of the capsule in planning the activities for the bicentennial.

"We felt we should tie the sesquicentennial and the bicentennial together," said Gateley. "When we talked with members of the Sesquicentennial Commission they told us we should open the capsule."

The ceremony is open to the public. Members of the Sesquicentennial Commission will participate.

Four of the members, Luther Hahs, Charles Knote, Robert Lamkin, and Hugh Logan, attended Monday's news conference.

The Cape Girardeau City Council earlier this year appointed the nine-member Bicentennial Commission to begin plans for the observance of trader and frontiersman Louis Lorimier's establishment of a trading post here in 1793.

The Sesquicentennial in 1956 celebrated the 150th anniversary of the actual founding of Cape Girardeau.

Logan, who at 91 is the oldest surviving member of the committee that organized the 1956 activities, said Monday he hopes the community will support the bicentennial activities as much as it did the sesquicentennial.

Knote said that in 1956, activities were organized throughout the community to raise funds for the celebration.

"I think it churned off some good spirit in our city, and I would hope that we wouldn't take ourselves so seriously that we couldn't do it again," Knote said. "We have lots to be appreciative of, and it's time we took the time to do that."

Lamkin said one of the highlights of the 1956 celebration was an elaborate pageant depicting the founding of the city. The pageant was performed five times by various civic groups.

"I think the community got very involved in the sesquicentennial and this bicentennial should be even more important," he said.

Hahs said he also remembered the extravagant parade that was held. He said various community leaders rode in the parade wearing vintage costumes.

Many of the activities from 1956 are recorded in documents sealed in the time capsule, which the Bicentennial Commission hopes will guide their plans.

Among items included in the capsule are savings account books from First National Bank and Farmers and Merchants Bank, with deposits of $10 each.

Commissioner Sharon Sanders said the accounts were taken out in the name of several Cape Girardeau youngsters with the idea that they would be able to help plan the city's 200th anniversary celebration in 2006.

"Apparently the money was supposed to grow, and in 2006 we should have a good balance for a nice celebration," she said.

But Sanders said the commission has been unable to determine if the accounts still exist at another bank in the city. Both banks have since ceased operations here.

"We're still trying to determine where those accounts are, if they're anywhere," she said.