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Port Richey proclaims centennial, opens 1975 time capsule and plans reburial
Summary
At its Feb. 7 meeting, the Port Richey City Council proclaimed a 100‑day centennial celebration, recognized the designer of the centennial logo and opened a time capsule buried in 1975. Council members agreed by consensus to document items and re-bury them with new material for the 2025 capsule.
Port Richey Mayor John Eric Hoover proclaimed Feb. 7–May 18, 2025, as the city’s 100‑day centennial celebration and the City Council opened a time capsule placed in 1975 during a Feb. 7 council meeting at City Hall.
The proclamation notes Port Richey was incorporated May 18, 1925, and invites residents to participate in centennial events. “I, John Eric Hoover, mayor of the city of Port Richey, do hereby proclaim the period from February 7 to May 18, 2025 as the hundred day city centennial celebration,” Hoover read during the meeting.
Why it matters: The council used the meeting to both launch official centennial observances and to examine artifacts from the city’s 50th anniversary, giving officials material context for public events and the city’s historical record as organizers prepare a new capsule for reburial on May 18, 2025.
City Manager Matthew Koehler thanked the Centennial Committee and city staff for preparations and for work to ready the building and events. “I just wanted to first thank the, Centennial Committee for all the work they've been doing and all the work that they will be doing over the next 100 days,” Koehler said.
The council also recognized Kimberly Carey as the designer of the centennial logo; the proclamation states Carey’s design was chosen by the Centennial Committee and the council to represent the 100‑day celebration.
After the proclamations and remarks, council members and staff opened a time capsule that had been placed in a cylinder in May 1975. Council members said the capsule had been retrieved during earlier site work and that material from a 2002 capsule also was included. Items displayed on a table for council inspection included local newspapers from March 2002 and May 1975, photographs of former city staff and the 2001‑2002 city hall construction, police department correspondence and roster material, city patches and commemorative memorabilia, and a Motorola Nextel handset reported to have been placed in a council member’s envelope.
Council members debated whether to allow public photographing and whether viewing should remain limited for future generations. By consensus the council agreed to open the capsule at the meeting, document and photograph items for the city record and local history display, and then re‑bury the contents with additional material in a new capsule prepared for the centennial. The mayor asked Public Works to handle logistics for opening, documenting and resealing the capsule.
The council closed the meeting with a routine motion to adjourn; the motion passed by voice vote.
What was not decided: The transcript records agreement to re‑bury the items and to prepare a new capsule for May 18, 2025, but it does not specify a formal vote tally, a written list of items to be reburied, nor the final contents of the new capsule. The Centennial Committee and staff were directed to continue planning and to make items available for a public History and Heritage Day display ahead of the May reburial.
Looking ahead: The city will hold centennial events through May 18 and expects to place a new time capsule at that closing ceremony; details and volunteer opportunities will be announced by the Centennial Committee and city staff.
