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Do you remember when?Digging up 1976 in Sioux Falls.Do you remember when?Digging up 1976 in Sioux Falls SIOUX FALLS, S.D.(Dakota News Now) - What started as a school project in 1976 turned into a reunion half a century in the making on Wednesday at Susan B.Anthony Elementary School.Former students of what was once Mark Twain Elementary gathered to open a time capsule they helped bury 50 years ago, reconnecting with childhood classmates and rediscovering memories frozen in time.“For 50 years, this time capsule sat buried outside what was once Mark Twain Elementary School,” said Ben Jones, director and state historian of the South Dakota Historical Society, who was a third grader at the school in 1976.“I’ve seen people here that I haven’t seen in 50 years, so that’s been kind of fun,” Jones said.“You’re transported back in time to think about the friends that you had and the person you were in 1976, and that’s a very special gift that my third-grade teacher gave us.” Inside the capsule were pieces of everyday life from the 1970s, including handwritten notes, school memorabilia, and plenty more.“I played a lot of tetherball with my friends, four square, dodgeball, so that ball that’s in there I’m sure got bounced around a lot,” Jones said.He said the capsule serves as a reminder that history is often built from ordinary moments rather than major world events.“That often gets skipped over for the big things, the moon landings, that kind of stuff, and really it’s just the everyday stuff that makes history,” Jones said.One of the most personal items inside was a hand-drawn, detailed map of the school created by former student Dan Hanson.“When I was an 11-year-old, I was concerned that the school might be a lot bigger in the future, and so I wanted people to know what it looked like, so I drew this,” Hanson said.For Hanson, reconnecting with classmates decades later became just as meaningful as the artifacts themselves.“When you know someone as a child, you know their heart,” Hanson said.“Their hearts are the same, no matter how old they are.” The event also reunited former teacher Bev Hammich with generations of former students she taught during her years at the school.“Hearing other people’s memories has really been important to me,” Hammich said.“I love seeing these kids.I can look at pictures from students of every class, and I can name almost all of them.They have a special place in my heart.Mark Twain will always be home.” This generation of Susan B.Anthony students also buried a new time capsule, one expected to be reopened in 2076.Hammich said her grandchildren would be in attendance to add items to the capsule, continuing a tradition that now spans generations in a family built around the Sioux Falls community.“My granddaughter Aurelia is putting in a Taylor Swift bracelet that says Susan B.Anthony 2026, 2076,” Hanson said.“I’m excited that maybe my grandchildren will be able to be here and help open it.Maybe they’ll take over and help plan it, like I did!” For the students who helped bury the original capsule in 1976, the day became about far more than reopening a box.It became a chance to revisit memories, reconnect with classmates, and reflect on how both they and Sioux Falls have grown over the last 50 years.Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now.All rights reserved.