We gathered at the museum to look over some pictures and to check out our information for the time capsule. Perhaps you have been reading about the time capsule in the newspaper. Ogle County Historical Society is promoting a time capsule that would be opened on our 300th anniversary of America’s independence.

When the time capsule is opened up 50 years from now people will find out what we are doing right now. I will not be around when it is opened up but the way 20 years has gone by, maybe there will not be that many changes.

Ogle County Historical Society is asking individuals, schools and organizations to put together a letter on acid-free paper to be sealed in this capsule on July 4, 2026. I have written a letter for the Polo Historical Society and we are now looking the letter over to see what more needs to be added before we put it on acid-free paper.

It seems to me I already have a capsule at Aplington House and I wonder when that one is to be opened. I will have to check that out in the next week or two.

We also had a sack full of pictures Ted brought in that needed to be looked at to see what we need to keep. Right away I saw some pictures of when they tore up the sidewalks downtown to get rid of the iron fences and steps down into the lower level of businesses. Each building had three businesses in it. One in the basement, one in the first floor and one upstairs. I thought the iron fences around the steps were quite unique.

One business in a basement was a tavern and when I was in high school, we did a snake dance that went down the steps, into the tavern, and then back up the steps. It was homecoming time and while we had a pep rally downtown, we also did the snake dance. Even as a kid, I thought the wrought iron fencing and steps down made our town unique. But our city fathers tore it all up to modernize our town. So we will keep those pictures to remember what we had and got rid of.

Other pictures showed buildings that had been torn down and are no longer there. Perhaps the roofs of the building had gone bad so the building is now gone. We need to keep those pictures to remember past businesses.

Then Joe Bliestein came in with a collection of arrow heads all nicely placed in a case and labeled. What a great addition to our Native American collection in the museum. Joe is an expert on all of that and when we would have an open house, Joe would be with the Native American collection to answer questions people might have. One time someone asked Joe if they were about 200 years old. Joe told that person to think of over 2,000 years. That is difficult to wrap your head around – something that old.

Our program for Polo Historical Society is Wednesday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the Polo History Museum. It is on the Waterbury Family and I will be giving the program. Come join us.

• Betty Obendorf is a Polo Historical Society historian.