The Army will celebrate local history tonight at the Quad Cities River Bandits game. Last week, the Army Sustainment Command opened a 50-year-old time capsule. Command Historian, George Eaton, says on May 10, 1816, Fort Armstrong was built on Arsenal Island but was only used for twenty years. In 1845, the Army started using it for supply storage.
The historian is very excited about a 16 mm. film found in the capsule. It includes footage of the 1965 Mississippi River Flood. And he hopes it's in good condition so it can be digitized and copied.
Tonight at 6:15, the contents of the 1966 time capsule will be shown during a ceremony before the baseball game at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport. Some of the items will be on display in the concourse during the game. Eaton hopes to use the traveling exhibit to teach schoolchildren and others about the 200th anniversary of Fort Armstrong.
