Conneaut unveils bicentennial time capsule

CONNEAUT – Steve and Matt Brandy watched their grandfather, William Brandy, bury a time capsule during the City of Conneaut’s bicentennial celebration in 1976.
Five decades later, the brothers returned to the city their grandparents called home during their retirement to watch as that time capsule was opened during the Red, White and Boom! Over Lake Erie Festival at Lakeview Park on Friday, July 3.
“He would be proud of us,” Steve Brandy said. “I think he just wanted us to be here. He wanted some family representation.”
Red, White and Bom! Over Lake Erie Festival Vice President Neil Simpson was excited to chip away at the concrete surrounding the capsule to get to the contents inside.
“It was a year in the making,” Simpson said. “That was awesome and also a little terrifying because I objectively had no idea what I was doing and what was I going to find. I started chipping away at two-thirds of the concrete, so at least it was exposed, but I didn’t know if I was going to be able to cut the lid sufficiently to peel it back. It worked out spectacularly.”
The capsule contained a bound history of the City of Conneaut, a couple of plaques, a cloth American flag and a bicentennial flag.
“I was (surprised at the contents),” Simpson said. “I expected some more objects. I think that book was probably the crown jewel, which, of course, is the most ruined,” Simpson said. “The only disappointing thing was the big piece that they thought they were giving us is the piece that didn’t make it.”
All of the contents were badly damaged by water that had made its way into the capsule.
“I was (surprised at the contents)…I expected some more objects. I think that book was probably the crown jewel, which, of course, is the most ruined,” Simpson said. “The only disappointing thing was the big piece that they thought they were giving us is the piece that didn’t make it.”
That damage was almost expected.
“For me, no, (it wasn’t disappointing) because I think I’ve been following a lot of the other time capsules from coast to coast and this is pretty much what everybody’s getting unless somebody in that local community really took some very specific precaution, so we kind of got what everybody else gets,” Simpson said.
Simpson was a little disappointed that the bound history was damaged, but finding it might lead to a bit of a search.
“It’s so hard to see,” Simpson said. “It actually looks like a published history book, which would be interesting because that means it should be somewhere else. What I’m thinking at this point looking at it, it was a bound published book, writing, maps, Conneaut businesses, it feels like that book should be located somewhere else in town.”
“You think about 1976, publishing books wasn’t easy, so you would have published in a batch order,” Simpson continued. “That’s kind of what I’m thinking, because it’s a bound or it would have been a bound glued book. I’m kind of excited about now that we have clues to the story, maybe going back and doing it some more digging. It opens up a new a new avenue to say, ‘Hey what were they leaving for us to find?’”
The Brandy brothers returned to Conneaut for the opening of the capsule because their grandfather had asked them to be in attendance.
“My feeling was it was great to finally see it happen,” Steve Brandy said. “Was I disappointed? No, because there’s been other time capsules in Illinois that that’s happened to them, too.”
Matt Brandy didn’t have high expectations, but he did have curiosity.
“I didn’t have too big of hopes,” Matt Brandy said. “I was curious to see what was in there and see if we could go through it.”
The brothers enjoyed rekindling the memories of the trip to Conneaut 50 years ago.
“That entire week was a big, long vacation for us,” Steve Brandy said. “It started with the bicentennial. We went to Conneaut Lake Park. We went to Niagara Falls, then at the end, one of my father’s cousins got married, so we packed a whole bunch of stuff into like 13 days so that made the bicentennial even more memorable for me because of all we did. My grandfather living with my grandmother at 1374 Lake Rd. and being able to watch the sun disappear into the lake for the sunset, those are great memories.”
“I think the most wonderful thing for me was coming south on Broad Street and turning onto Depot Street and there was the big engine, just like when we were kids,” Steve Brandy continued. “It’s the first thing you see, so sorry we couldn’t get inside. It had to be closed today because of the heat, but just seeing it there and looking outside taking some pictures, was wonderful.”