Time capsule to be opened at Waymart’s 175th anniversary, once found

Waymart Borough is 175 years old in 2026, and the celebration will include opening a 50-year-old time capsule – once they find where it was buried.

Borough Councilor Shana Delaney, who chairs the Parks & Recreation committee, has been spearheading anniversary plans. The celebration is being planned to merge with the annual Pride & Patriotism parade and Waymart Volunteer Fire Company’s picnic at Kennedy’s Grove on Saturday, June 13. (The fire company picnic is a two-day event, June 12-13.)

The celebration also helps mark the 250th anniversary of the United States.

“We’re going to cobble everything with the fire company,” Delaney reported to her fellow council members on Feb. 10. “And everything is going to be held in the Grove.” The fire company and borough are splitting the costs on the bands and picnic activities. The fire company is handling the food, she said.

Delaney said that the plan is to have an anniversary ceremony first at Wayside Park at about 3:30 p.m. She asked Mayor Charles Norella to give a speech. The Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs has offered a congratulatory plaque.

Parade lineup at the Robert D. Wilson school is at 4:30, and the parade kicks off at 5 p.m. The parade concludes at Kennedy’s Grove off Carbondale Road where the picnic and related festivities take place.

Another highlight connected with the anniversary is the plan to open the time capsule that was buried in 1976 at the time of the borough’s 125th anniversary. Delaney said she hopes that the capsule will be unearthed the day before and displayed. The Waymart Area Historical Society will open it.

First, they must locate it, although they have a general idea. Delaney said some of the members of the Waymart Bicentennial Committee contacted her with information on where it was buried.

Historical Society President Emeritus Jane Varcoe, who has also served on borough council since 1974, was asked more about the capsule by the Tri-County Independent. She said that the cement casket-like box was buried in front of the present D&H Gravity Railroad Depot Museum at 118 South Street next to the present borough offices.

The borough owns the historic, former railroad station that served the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company gravity railroad in Waymart during the 19th century. In 1976, the borough had no plans to remodel the depot, which was being used as the borough’s garage. The borough had not yet bought the house next door, which became the borough offices and police station in 2006.

In 1976, the Waymart Bicentennial Committee expressed its desire to see the depot restored.

“The Waymart Area Historical Society was formed in 1994 to save the depot, which the council had planned to take down,” Varcoe said.

Varcoe recalled that the bicentennial committee decided to bury a time capsule. Oliver and Kay Shifler donated a box.

“Everyone in the community was invited to place a note, photo or other small objects in [the] capsule. I put in my photo and a write-up on my life as I was the first woman elected to borough council,” Varcoe said. “We had many residents give us items.” On parade day they placed the capsule in the hole, a few feet in front of the depot.

She added, “Waymart had the biggest parade ever. The front of the parade met the back of the parade.”

Since then, the capsule had to be moved because the water, sewage and electricity lines had to be buried underground when the society’s project was underway in 2006 to rehabilitate the depot museum.

Varcoe said that the lines were required to be buried by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, because the utilities did not exist in 1851, when the borough was incorporated. The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

“In spring we are going to find it,” Varcoe said of the time capsule. “We can find it by using treasure hunters and [a] seismic echo machine to find it. The problem is it is cement, so we are hoping that some items in the box will ping.” She said that she remembered that it was buried near the large stone and tree in front of the building.

Varcoe indicated it has not been decided whether a new time capsule was being planned. The depot museum, she said, will be open to the public during parade day. Maria Miller became society president effective Jan. 1.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Time capsule to be opened at Waymart’s 175th anniversary, once found

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