Mount Union borough

Mount Union's 1976 Time Capsule Comes Up

Mount Union Borough workers dug up a time capsule in the IOOF Cemetery on Monday, September 14, 2026. It had been buried in the cemetery on December 30, 1976, and The Daily News said the burial was in celebration of the creation of the Mount Union Historical Society during the country's bicentennial. The paper said the capsule was made using a vault donated by the late Robert D. Heath, who owned the Robert D. Heath Funeral Home in Mount Union.

On Saturday, October 3, more than 100 people gathered at the society's Sharrar House to see what had been found. The celebration included the introduction of 11 local babies, as the paper called them, who were born in 1976 and helped to reveal the contents.

The paper's October report named some of what came out: an August 28, 1976, edition of The Daily News, a bicentennial flag placed there by the Historical Society, and a book from the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter, found in excellent condition. Some other items could not be identified because of water and mud damage.

The National Register nomination for the Mount Union Historic District, prepared in 1994, calls the John Sharrar House a canal era building erected along Water Street in 1841 when the street bordered the canal, and says it was owned and restored by the Mount Union Historical Society. The Library of Congress record of the federal building survey places it on West Water Street near Division Street and dates it to about 1841.

A page about the society on the Huntingdon County Historical Society's website says the Mount Union society was formed in 1976 as an outgrowth of the area centennial planning group, and that the first goal of the group was to save the Sharrar house. The page says the house is now home to the society's museum.

Checked against the record. For the 2026 events we read what The Daily News makes open to every reader in its September 15 and October 6 reports: the opening paragraphs and the photograph captions. The rest of both reports is for subscribers, so this story gives no count of the items found and no full list. The September report says the capsule was dug up on Monday, which falls on September 14. The 11 babies are private people and are not named here. The paper names the cemetery two ways, IOOF Cemetery and Mount Union Cemetery, and this story uses IOOF Cemetery. The Huntingdon County society's page ties its founding to an area centennial planning group, while the paper ties the burial to the country's bicentennial, and each is given in its own words. Still open: we have not read any 1976 newspaper report on the capsule, so this story does not say who organized it, how it was planned, how the 11 were chosen, or how many items went in. The reason for the burial is the paper's wording in 2026, not a record from 1976.

Sources

Checked 2026-11-01 · Primary sources and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

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