The Mystery Of The Missing Box

East High Student Sleuths Uncover ‘Lost’ Time Capsule

By Matthew Fulford and Keegan Hoelscher | For the GPHN

In June, two weeks after the school year ended, students Keegan Hoelscher and Aidan Mills returned to East High School for an unusual project. 

These leaders of the school’s Museum Club met with administrators and custodians from Denver Public Schools to investigate the mystery of what was behind the dedication panel at the entrance of the building for nearly 100 years.

Hoelscher, Mills, and the staff hoped to uncover the school’s cornerstone box — a time capsule that had been buried in the wall a century earlier when the school was built. Such time capsules often include artifacts for future generations to study. 

Retrieving the box/time capsule would help to celebrate two major milestones for East High. During the upcoming school year, the school will recognize the 150-year anniversary of the institution itself, as well as the 100-year anniversary of its current building located next to City Park. East High has long been the destination school for generations of Park Hill residents.

From old to new

In 1875 — a year before Colorado gained statehood — Denver’s first school building was called the Arapahoe School. The third floor housed Denver’s first high school, and it became known as East High. The school, however, quickly outgrew the space, prompting the move to a new building at 19th and Stout Street. 

Fifty years later, in 1925, the city’s rapidly expanding population once again required more space. And so the East High School that we know now was constructed. The state-of-the-art “New East,” as the school was called, was the most expensive building project in Denver at the time. It continues to serve students to this day.

Graduates who fondly remembered attending “Old East” and the Arapahoe School lamented the change. Luminaries such as Oscar winner Hattie MacDaniel and film star Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., for example, had spent their youth at the old buildings. When it came time to move to “New East” in 1925, school officials reportedly salvaged the cornerstone boxes from both the Arapahoe School and “Old East” to preserve that history of early Denver. 

But there was a problem: back then, the school officials apparently did not document the location of the artifacts for future generations to discover. As a result, the Arapahoe School box was later declared to have been lost. ​​That was a hard blow, as it likely included objects dating from Denver’s earliest days, before Colorado became a state.

The discovery of both boxes

In June, while conducting newspaper research, Hoelscher stumbled upon a 1955 article about the Arapahoe School time capsule. The headline declared: Valued Relics From Denver’s First School Are Missing!

The story explained that when the city razed the historic Arapahoe School in the mid-1950s, officials from the State Historical Society were stunned to realize that the cornerstone box/time capsule was nowhere to be found. 

Based on that 1955 news report,  Hoelscher and Mills never expected that they would be the ones who would ultimately solve the case of the missing box.

When the students returned to the school in June, they looked forward to retrieving the cornerstone box/time capsule from 1925. They fully expected that it would be in the wall behind the dedication plaque at the entrance to the school.  

Neither expected they would also find the box of relics from the original 1872 Arapahoe School. But when the panel was removed, two boxes were revealed. It turns out that school officials in 1925 had sealed both of the time capsules behind the plaque at the entrance of the new building. They were in pristine condition, safely tucked away and clearly labeled. One is from the Arapahoe School era, and the other likely includes ephemera from “Old East” and “New East,” circa 1925.

Both of the boxes/time capsules will be opened at an event in August (as of press time that date had not yet been determined). The contents of both will be on display in September as part of a weeklong celebration of the school’s two major anniversaries. Hoelscher and Mills hope the box will contain well-preserved photographs from the era and maybe even some old building plans.

As for the Museum Club sleuths, they are not only excited to study the contents of the boxes, but also to help create a box of their own. The new time capsule — which will include materials reflecting school life in 2025 — will be returned to the wall for another 100 years.

Matthew Fulford teaches social studies at East High School. Keegan Hoelscher is a rising senior. For more about the history of East High School and its upcoming 100th and 150th anniversaries, check out a news story from the May issue at greaterparkhill.org/angels-in-the-house. Details about the school’s planned weeklong anniversary celebration in September is at this link: eastangelfoundation.org/support/ehs-150th-anniversary.