City To Mark America’s 250th
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Johnny Wayne Turner (right) directs the excavation of Bicentennial time capsule Friday morning near City Hall as Mayor Tommy Reynolds and others look on. Contents of the capsule will be displayed during Saturday’s celebration commemorating America’s 250th birthday.
WATER VALLEY – Fifty years ago, Water Valley celebrated America’s Bicentennial with one of the largest patriotic observances in the city’s history.
Downtown streets filled with parade entries. Homemade lemonade, ice cream, watermelon and barbecue were served in City Park. Church bells rang in unison with communities across the nation. Congressman Jamie Whitten delivered the keynote address, a community choir presented the cantata I Love America, and local leaders announced plans to preserve the celebration for future generations through a pair of time capsules.
This Independence Day, as the nation marks its 250th birthday, Water Valley will once again celebrate its patriotic heritage by completing a promise made during those Bicentennial festivities nearly a half-century ago.
Organized by Water Valley Odd Fellows Lodge No. 82 and the Water Valley Main Street Association, the community’s Semiquincentennial celebration begins at noon Saturday at Bozarts Gallery, 403 North Main Street. As the oldest civic organization in Water Valley, the lodge organized the celebration as a way to commemorate America’s 250th birthday while preserving Water Valley’s Bicentennial history for future generations.
The patriotic program will include readings from the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, recognition of the Bicentennial flag displayed in Water Valley during the nation’s 1976 Bicentennial celebration, and patriotic musical selections. Following the program, participants will march along the sidewalk to the Casey Jones Railroad Museum carrying the America250 flag, the United States flag, the Mississippi flag, the 1976 Bicentennial flag and the City of Water Valley flag. At the Casey Jones Railroad Museum, contents of Water Valley’s Bicentennial time capsule will be unveiled to the public for the first time, followed by the serving of birthday cake in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.
The capsule, recently located and exhumed near City Hall after decades underground, was buried during a ceremony on July 4, 1977. Although placed in the ground one year after the nation’s Bicentennial celebration, it was created to preserve Water Valley’s 1976 observance, with many of its contents originating from those historic festivities.
The discovery followed research sparked by a 1977 edition of the North Mississippi Herald documenting the burial ceremony. That newspaper account, together with city records and assistance from City Clerk Vivian Snider, helped members of Water Valley Odd Fellows Lodge No. 82 narrow the search area before successfully recovering the capsule near City Hall last Friday.
For organizer James McCormick, however, the project has never been simply about opening an old container.
Instead, it has become an opportunity to reconnect today’s community with one of the most memorable Fourth of July celebrations in Water Valley’s history.
According to the North Mississippi Herald’s coverage from July 1976, the Water Valley Jaycees and Jaycettes organized an “Old Fashion Fourth of July Celebration” spanning two days. The festivities featured a downtown parade, live music from the Main Street bandstand, horseshoe and washer-pitching contests, square dancing, fireworks, trade day, church bell ringing and a community barbecue.
The Bicentennial observance included remarks by Congressman Jamie Whitten, patriotic music by the Bicentennial Chorus and the announcement that two time capsules would preserve the community’s celebration for generations yet to come.
One capsule was intended to be opened in 2026. A second, buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, was designated to remain sealed until America’s 300th birthday in 2076 and is believed to remain undisturbed.
Many of the items placed into the City Hall capsule represented life in Water Valley during the Bicentennial. The original inventory listed a photostat of the handwritten city charter, a Bank of Water Valley statement, programs from the 1976 celebration, New Testaments contributed by local churches, city and county meeting minutes, Bicentennial coins, sealed envelopes from civic organizations and numerous other documents preserving a snapshot of the community during the nation’s 200th birthday.
Following Saturday’s unveiling, the recovered items will become part of a special exhibit at the Casey Jones Railroad Museum curated by Grant Thompson. The exhibit will also feature original North Mississippi Herald coverage, historic photographs from the 1976 celebration and other Bicentennial memorabilia. The display will remain open to the public throughout the summer.
James McCormick said the celebration is intended not only to honor America’s 250th birthday, but also to encourage residents to leave something behind for future generations. Community members are invited to contribute letters, photographs and other items representing life in Water Valley today. Those items will be placed into the restored capsule before it is resealed and reburied at City Hall on Labor Day, where it will remain unopened for another 50 years.
