On Monday, April. 22 the Owatonna Public Schools gathered together and hosted a press conference to open a century old time capsule that was found during the demolition of the old Owatonna High School. The old Owatonna High School was officially opened in 1921, but the time capsule itself contained remnants from the year of 1920.
This finding of the time capsule was announced in the Owatonna Public Schools social media pages and sparked the interest of many Owatonna community members. As well as announcing the finding, a press conference was set up to unveil the time capsule. The press conference was open to the public and livestremend on Youtube. With this conference Owatonna Public schools encouraged locals to come be a part of the opening and join them in viewing Owatonna history. As the press conference came closer excitement around the town seemed to grow, leaving the question of what could be in that capsule?
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One of OHS Magnet’s first articles published in 1920 regarding the construction of the old high school.
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Owatonna 1920 newspaper with the headlines of the time.
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Owatonna 1920 newspaper showing the companies that were present in Owatonna.
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1920 documentation of the Grand lodge in Owatonna.
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The time capsule unveiling was held in Crandall Centers Chambers with director of facilities Bob Olson uncovering each one of the remnants inside the time capsule. Some remnants inside included a copy of one of the first OHS Magnet articles, enrolment documents, newspaper articles, a book written in Czech and many more papers. Bob Olson said, “I really thought the rosters of all the staff members that were at the current schools was neat to see. In one of the documents there was one country school and they had like two employees. It was a really small country school and they probably had eight or 10 Kids.” These documents allowed locals to see how much the town had changed and grown throughout the years.
Not only did the time capsule allow the town to see what Owatonna looked like before, but it also brought the community together. Senior Calista Seiler said, “Watching the opening of the time capsule in person was a very cool experience. There were newspapers in the capsule from 1920 that had interesting articles and it was fun to read the stories.” This event really helped open a time capsule into Owatonna History and highlighted really how far this town has come.
All remnants will be stored and restored by the Steele County Historical Society and OHS Museum.
