A piece of history was unveiled Wednesday morning as Cortez Masons and a former Panther opened a 50-year-old time capsule.

The small box was included in the cornerstone for the old Montezuma-Cortez High School on Seventh Street, which was completed in 1967. Students and administrators loaded up the box with artifacts from that year and sealed it up in the old building.

Brad Wayt, a member of the first graduating class, helped open the time capsule Wednesday morning during an assembly at M-CHS that included the entire student body and a handful of visitors from the community.

“It brings back memories,” Wayt said.

The time capsule included copies of several newspapers, including a copy of the Montezuma Valley Journal with a story about the school district authorizing a bond issue.

Other newspapers included pictures of the original cornerstone ceremony for the old M-CHS in 1967. A copy of the old high school student newspaper, the Halls of Montezuma, also was in the time capsule.

Also included was an M-CHS Panthers pennant, a 1967 student handbook, report card and diploma. A 1966 silver dollar was included in the time capsule, as well as a reel-to-reel tape with audio of the 1967 cornerstone ceremony.

Wayt said the newspapers jogged his memory and reminded him of things that happened in 1967, such as the bond issue authorization.

He said he didn’t expect to find the reel-to-reel tape, and was expecting an 8-track tape. He said some of the administrators probably put together the time capsule in 1967, but he would have come up with some more interesting items to include.

“I would have maybe put in a menu from one of the popular drive-ins,” he said.

jacobk@the-journal.com