HILLS, MN. (KELO) — Crews that were demolishing the old Hills-Beaver Creek Secondary School found a more than 100 year old surprise waiting for them.
A time capsule that is dated back to 1921, was found during the demolition of the secondary school building. The capsule was found wedged inside a foundation stone.
The original school district was founded in 1920, with the building constructed sometime between 1920 and 1922.
The School District announced on its social media that the capsule would be opened at a later time.
Foundation stone & capsuleWriting on the capsule Demolition photoDemolition photoDemolition photoDemolition photoDemolition photoDemolition photoHistoric Photos provided by the Rock County Historical SocietyHistoric Photos provided by the Rock County Historical Society
Michael Beach, site construction manager with contractor RA Morton, said the time capsule was discovered around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning when they were tearing down the last wall connecting to the part of the building that will remain standing.
“This one was not known, and if you think about it that was 104 years,” Beach said. “We needed to nibble that all down, very neatly and cleanly so we didn’t destroy the piece of the building that has to stay… so fortunately for us we weren’t in there with a wrecking ball, we were in there with sledgehammers gently taking it apart.”
Brad McColley with DRC, Inc. was the one who came to discover the capsule on Tuesday morning.
The superintendent of the Hills-Beaver Creek School District, Todd Holthaus, said the district is in the middle of constructing a new elementary school and they realized there is no longer a use for the old building.
“Back when this portion of the facility was built, it was the Hills School District in 1920, 1921, and 14 years ago we had a building project, we came in and built a new secondary school and not until recently we decided that we needed to get rid of this eyesore in the community,” Holthaus said.
Holthaus added that local people whom he’s talked with had no idea there was a time capsule in the building.
“If anybody knew, it was their secret, because nobody had ever shared that with me at all in regards to whether or not there was a time capsule here or not,” Holthaus said.
Holthaus said the capsule was a unique find. The district will announce later when it plans to open the capsule.
“It’s a special occasion, it’s a unique situation and going back 100 plus years and taking a look at what was important or what people thought was unique about the time and the the place, and we’ll make sure people understand and know when we do open this,” he said.
Holthaus said it will be an interesting look back and he gave some thought to what he thought was inside the capsule.
“I’m wondering if there might be some newspaper clippings possibly, just in looking at some, some past time capsules,” Holthaus said. “I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but that would be something that I would think is probably gonna be in there, some kind of a recognition of the era, a newspaper clipping, or something like that.”
Beach said he has witnessed many time capsule openings. Typically, he said, they’ve contained pictures of the graduating class of the first year, and a picture of the staff in front of the building.
