ABBEVILLE — Ahead of Abbeville’s 175th anniversary last year, it was rumored that city officials buried a time capsule when they built Magdalen Square’s gazebo in the 1990s.
Cristian LeJune, with Abbeville’s Communication and Media Department, said she researched whether or not the rumor was true.
“There was no real evidence of it," she said. "I had searched the Meridional archives, and I saw a little information, but it was back and forth. Was it buried? Was it not buried?”
LeJune said when the plaque in the center of the gazebo was lifted, they found the time capsule.
“There was a $1 bill signed by Mayor Brady Broussard…there was things from the Chamber of Commerce that was going on at that time. There was some things of the different festivals. There was something that represented cattle and something that represented omelette,” she said.
Mayor Roslyn White said the artifacts were put on display at Abbeville’s Historical and Cultural Alliance Center.
This year, the original artifacts were added back to the time capsule, along with new contributions from the community and city, including a digital time capsule featuring interviews with Abbeville residents from various generations.
White said she hopes the next generation is as excited to open the time capsule as they were to open it last year.
“I hope the things that we left for them are both surprising and retrospective in a way that brings value to them,” White said.
The time capsule is reburied in the center of the gazebo under the 1994 medallion. The plan is to reopen it in 2050.
