City of Sanibel to open time capsule for 50th anniversary

It’s a chance to see what the past was like. Forty-one years ago, the City of Sanibel put items in a time capsule to be opened on the 50th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.

On Tuesday, WINK News was there to see what people had to say about the island decades ago.

Here are some pictures of what the island looked like back then:

There’s no telling if these pictures may be clues into what we can expect to see.

People here on Sanibel have been speculating about what might be inside.

The chair of the historic preservation committee tells us that when this time capsule was sealed, the Sanibel school played a large role, so there may be something related to that here.

Take a listen to some of their other guesses:

“Lots of times they’ll put in uniforms from that time: the city workers or photos or another popular thing is the letter, letter to the future citizens or future mayor, city manager,” said Andrea Miller, the recreation director for the City of Sanibel.

“I hope there is a letter to the mayor. Maybe they can point out the things that I should be taking care of, maybe that I’ve not thought about,” said Sanibel’s mayor Richard Johnson.

“I’m thinking we see a Junonia. I’m thinking we see some really cool photos,” said John Lai, president and CEO of the Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce.

This capsule was opened sometime around 5 p.m.

Some of their guesses were correct. Guesses ranged from everything from letters to old photographs and we saw it all.

We heard what was in the headlines of newspapers back in 1983 and what the people of that time wanted to leave with those living on Sanibel now.

We had islanders take a guess and some of them guessed right.

“I finally found one…A junonia,” said one resident. “A photograph.”

Before the big reveal, One of the biggest questions was how well did all of the contents hold up.

“I think really the worst was, of course, Ian, and it was underwater for probably eight hours or so. And so it’s hard to say what we’re going to find. It could be very ugly,” said Deb Gleason, chairperson of the Sanibel Historic Preservation Committee.

Time proved that the contents held up well just like Sanibel after every storm.

Sanibel has big plans for the future for these items from the past.

“We might have a permanent display, but I think some of them would be put back into the time capsule because we hope to do another time capsule,” said Gleason.

You may wonder why they picked today to open the capsule, but the day really picked them. Nov. 5, 2024, was the date put on the capsule because it was this day 50 years ago Sanibel was incorporated.