The United States Semiquincentennial plan schedules its Philadelphia time capsule to be opened in 2276.
The capsule is intended to preserve a snapshot of the United States at the 250th anniversary of independence. It was planned for burial in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026, the date associated with the semiquincentennial celebration.
Its scheduled opening date is July 4, 2276—250 years after burial and 500 years after the Declaration of Independence. That makes the capsule a message from America’s 250th anniversary to the nation’s planned 500th anniversary.
Philadelphia was chosen because it played a central role in the founding era: the Continental Congress met there, the Declaration of Independence was adopted there, and Independence Hall remains one of the country’s best-known historic sites. The capsule’s date can be confused with 2076, which marks the 300th anniversary of independence and is associated with earlier bicentennial-era time capsules.