The America250 time capsule buried in Philadelphia is scheduled to be opened on July 4, 2276.
The capsule is designed to connect the 250th anniversary of American independence with the nation’s future 500th anniversary. Its planned opening date is exactly 250 years after the 2026 semiquincentennial and 500 years after the Declaration of Independence’s 1776 anniversary.
Philadelphia was selected because the city hosted the Second Continental Congress and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Independence Hall, formerly the Pennsylvania State House, is the best-known surviving symbol of those events. A future opening there would place the capsule within the same historical landscape.
The date is a scheduled plan rather than a historical event that has already occurred. It is also different from the 2076 tricentennial, which will mark 300 years of independence. The 2276 date instead points to the quincentennial, or 500th anniversary.