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In 1975, a small Nebraska town created the world's largest time capsule. Reopening it was wild.

The relics found inside, including pet rocks, were groovy.

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Old photographs in a box as time passes.

Time capsules are just cool, no matter how you slice them. The term, officially coined at the 1939 New York World's Fair, has been around for centuries. According to Evan Andrews's piece on History.com, "The world’s first planned time capsule debuted in 1876 when New York Magazine publisher Anna Deihm assembled a 'Century Safe' at the U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia."

Exactly 100 years later, it was opened. Andrews shares, "At a ceremony attended by President Gerald Ford, Senator Mike Mansfield said the opening had honored 'the wish of a lady who sought to speak to us from the other side of a 100-year gulf.'"

Just recently, in a small town in Nebraska, a time capsule from half a century ago was unearthed. NBC News writer Maya Eaglin reports, "Treasures from 1975, sealed inside what the World Record Academy once called the 'world’s largest time capsule,' went on display Friday, drawing hundreds of people from across the country to catch a glimpse of relics from the past."

-Nebraska Now www.youtube.com

She adds, "Thousands of letters, pet rocks, artwork, a groovy teal suit and even a yellow Chevy Vega had been preserved inside the capsule—a portal to another era—for half a century."

The letters are still being sorted, though one person, the article relays, was able to find a very special relic he snuck in. "Clark Kolterman, who was there in 1975, put his wedding invitation in the capsule. 'I can’t believe they found it,' he said, surrounded by his children."

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This all begs the question: if you were filling a capsule of time of your own (other than, say, your kitchen junk drawer), what would you put in it? Redditors jumped to answer the question “What would you put in your 2025 time capsule?” just a couple of weeks ago.

The replies ranged from thoughtful and serious to downright hilarious. One person joked, "Someone with their phone on speaker, holding it at arm’s length and yelling in the general direction of it." Another, mocking chemicals found in fruits and vegetables, suggested, "Any of the supermarket fruit and veg I buy seems to not ever go off these days. I’m unsure what they now do to them, but I’d be intrigued to know if they remain edible in 50 years' time."

time capsule, time, history, relics , hourglass A brown and blue hourglass sits on stones. Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

Though a few took the question to heart and gave earnest suggestions:

"A newspaper"
"A cinema or theatre ticket"
"TV guide"
"An unused games console and games"
"A book of stamps (if you’re a millionaire)"
"A favourite recipe"
"A USB with a video of you talking about you/your life/life in 2025"

This person has already given it a shot, though they most likely have some time before they recall everything they put in it. "We did something similar a couple of years ago and put in:- A coin from the year, a Lidl (grocery) brochure, a sealed packet of Pokémon cards, a letter and photo from us as a family, couple of bits of random tat (plastic toys) and some other stuff that I've completely forgotten."

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Education & Information

A tiny Nebraska town has only one resident. At 89, she literally does everything.

Elsie Eiler serves as mayor, secretary, treasurer, librarian, tavern owner and more.

Andrew Filer/Wikimedia Commons

Monowi, Nebraska. Population: 1.

Big cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston are well known to people across the U.S. Even if you've never been to any of these cities, you likely know where they are and can name some facts about them. Small towns, on the other hand, tend to fly under the radar, and the smaller the town, the less likely people are to have heard of them.

But one small U.S. town in particular is so small that it barely even exists. Monowi, Nebraska (pronounced MON-oh-why) has a whopping population of one. As in only one person officially lives there. Her name is Elsie Eiler, she's 89 years old, and since her husband died in 2004, she's been the sole resident of the tiny incorporated village five miles south of the South Dakota border.

— (@)

As the sole resident, Eiler "elects" herself as mayor every year, and all of the official town duties fall on her shoulders, including record-keeping, licensing, maintenance and more. Some reports say she collects her own taxes from herself, but Eiler told travel vloggers Kara & Nate that that's not true. "I pay taxes like everybody else," she said.

What is true is that there's no city council to make decisions, no other residents to worry about—the entirety of the town is just Eiler, her home, her tavern, and the library she opened in honor of her late bookworm husband. And her playing every role in town makes for some humorous chains of bureaucratic steps.

“When I apply to the state for my liquor and tobacco licenses each year, they send them to the secretary of the village, which is me,” she explained to the BBC in 2020. “So, I get them as the secretary, sign them as the clerk and give them to myself as the bar owner.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Though it's never been large, Monowi has not always been this small. Nearly a century ago, it was a thriving farming community and home to 150 people. People riding the Elkhorn Railroad could stop there, and the town had all the normal amenities one would expect in a town—grocery stores, restaurants, a one-room schoolhouse and even a prison.

But Monowi was a casualty of the collapse of rural communities in the Great Plains after WWII. Eiler herself left to work for an airline in Kansas City, wanting to become a flight attendant. She didn't care for city life, thought, and at 19, she returned home to Monowi. She married Rudy, who she met when he was in the 4th grade and she was in the 3rd grade. They raised two kids in Monowi, and in 1971 fixed up the tavern that had belonged to Eiler's father.

Eiler still runs the tavern, personally serving up homemade burgers, hot dogs, and cheeseballs to the patrons who come from neighboring communities or who happen to be passing through the town. She also does all the dishes, as she's the tavern's only employee. As of 2021, the tavern was open 9:00am to 9:00pm six days a week.

She's also the librarian at Rudy's Library, which houses 5,000 titles and works on the honor system.

monowi, nebraska, rudy's library, smallest town in America Eiler created Rudy's Library in her husband's honor.Bkell/Wikimedia Commons

The rest of Monowi is made up of dilapidated, abandoned buildings, and the town's church, which last held a funeral when Eiler's father died, is filled with old tires and beehives. So what is it that keeps Eiler here? Essentially, it's home.

"I'm not here because I have to be," Eiler told Kara & Nate. "I could pack up and go anywhere I wanted to, but this is where I want to be." She told Nebraska Public Media the same thing. "I mean, basically I'm happy here. This is where I really—I want to be here, or I wouldn't stay here."

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Heroes

It's the final countdown to the eclipse and America's getting hyped.

For the first time in 38 years, an eclipse is going to hit the lower 48 states. People. Are. Getting. Hyped.

The eclipse will occur on Monday, Aug. 21, and pass over 14 states, from Oregon to South Carolina.

Image from NASA/Goddard/SVS/Ernie Wright.

Though there's a solar eclipse every 18 months, a total solar eclipse crossing the continental United States in such a perfect line is rare — in fact, it hasn't happened since 1918, though we'll get another chance in 2024. The Atlantic has even pegged this as the greatest human migration to see a natural event in U.S. history.

It makes sense that people are making hay while the sun shines — or doesn't shine, as it were. Such a momentous, gigantic, joyous, literally astronomical event is expected to draw out millions of science-loving humans.

Check out a few of the most delightful, surprising, creative, and flat-out fun ways people are preparing to celebrate the occasion.