To celebrate Texarkana’s Sesquicentennial on Dec. 8th, the TXK 150 Committee, appointed by the city council, is collecting items from the community to place inside a time capsule that is set to be opened in 2073. Earlier this year, the committee opened a time capsule that was buried to mark the centennial celebration of Texarkana in 1973. That time capsule gave the committee the idea to bury a new time capsule to be opened in another 50 years.

Lisa Thompson, a member of the committee, stated that right now the committee is collecting photos, newspapers, magazines, trinkets, pens, and anything else community members think would make an interesting addition. Currently, the committee has collected a coin from Red River Army Depot, a Texas High fall sports program, a Texarkana Symphony Orchestra program, a Run the Line medal and t-shirt, photos of city officials and first responders, and a few other items that will be included in the time capsule.

For this year’s time capsule, the committee is wanting to include more items that are of interest to the general public because they recognized that the previous time capsule had several letters and items that were specific to certain families. “We thought if we bury a time capsule in 2023, we want it to be something when they open it up it’s easy to understand and there’s no question about who it was for,” said Lisa Thompson.

As of now, there is no definite location that the time capsule will be buried, but committee members are looking for a place downtown that is appropriate to reflect the split nature of our unique border city straddling the state lines of Texas and Arkansas. “We thought we would bury it somewhere downtown… we don’t know yet exactly where because we’re trying to be neutral to both sides,” said Lisa Thompson. The time capsule is set to be opened in the year 2073 by the TXK Bi-Centennial Committee.

To further celebrate the Texarkana Sesquicentennial, there will be other events happening in downtown Texarkana on Dec. 8. “There’s a big celebration at the courthouse. We are lighting up the courthouse and we’re going to unveil the lights… it’s permanent lighting on the courthouse so we can light it up in different colors for different events,” said Lisa Thompson. In addition to this courthouse celebration, there will also be some performances at the Perot Theatre to celebrate Texarkana’s city history. “The Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and singers and a pictorial history of the city is going to be shown… it’s like a big finale to our events,” said Lisa Thompson.

Members of the Texarkana community are invited to donate items to the time capsule by November 30. To donate items to the time capsule or for more information, contact Lisa Thompson at lisa.thompson@texarkanatexas.gov.