At the beginning of this decade, the residents of Oxford discovered a collection of Miami University catalogues, church bulletins, an Oxford phone book and an American flag in a time capsule.
A Fourth of July celebration held by Oxford citizens in 1976 included the burial of a time capsule intended for those living in Oxford in 2076. Residents in the year 2000, however, discovered the collection of momentos when renovating the uptown parks, and fearful of water damage and decay to the capsule's contents, opted to open it.
This year, in celebration of the city's bicentennial, a time capsule was sealed into a sculpture at Oxford Community Park. This capsule includes relics from the current decade, including recent newspapers, menus from uptown restaurants and Silly Bandz.
The 2000s mark an important decade in the history of Oxford as uptown started to become what it is today.
According to Valerie Ellott, head of the Smith Library of Regional History, Oxford saw the appearance of the Minnis building, the first four-story building above Steinkeller on High Street, in 2000. The fourth floor of this building was disguised to look like a roof, as many Oxford residents were apprehensive of the idea of taller buildings.
Amos Heller, who graduated from Miami in 2000, recalls the addition of four-story buildings being an issue of concern amongst Miami students.
"One of the things that we loved about uptown was its small town feel, and there was concern that some of that would be lost," Heller said. "I mean, they were never going to put in a skyscraper, but I think people were concerned that it might lose the open, airy feel we'd come to love."
After Minnis received approval to build a fourth story, other businesses uptown decided to expand as well. Today, the buildings housing Chipotle and Kona Bistro and Coffee Bar are amongst the uptown structures that reach the height of a fourth story.
Another change seen in Oxford in 2000 was the renovation of the uptown parks. The parks were divided into East Park and West Park until 2000 when they were remodeled and renamed as Memorial Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Park respectively. Also, the additions of a water feature and concrete animals were made to the parks in 2000.
"Both uptown parks had some very old trees," Eilliot said. "They got a new urban design in the early 2000s. It used to be kind of small town, like an old town square."
Miami University first-year Carli Williams appreciates the renovated atmosphere of the uptown parks.
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"I've gotten coffee and taken it to the uptown parks before, and it's great that the parks have a different feel than the rest of Miami," Williams said. "It's nice to be exposed to a more urban setting."
According to Elliott, the renovations have altered the presence of music in the parks because more green space is available due to a reduction in parking on High and Main streets.
"They narrowed Main Street, which made it feel more like one big park rather than two," Elliott said. "The sloping area allows people to sit on blankets and chairs in the summer and watch a performance on the pavillion"
Heller, who belonged to an improvisation theatre troupe called The Tower Players and is now the bass player in Taylor Swift's band, performed in the uptown parks both before and after the renovations. While the tearing down of the water tower, which occurred shortly before the 2000s in 1998 was a loss for Heller, he finds the renovations serve their intended purpose of creating an enhanced atmosphere for performances.
"The new look of the park made it a better place to perform," Heller said.
According to Miami University archives, the enrollment of Miami has changed since the 2000-01 school year, when 14,830 students were in attendance at Miami's main campus. Current enrollment at Miami is 14,671.
Uptown Oxford will undoubtedly continue to change throughout future decades, but the memories of current Miami students will not be weathered because they are conserved safely in an impermeable container.
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