Old walls of school give up secrets

ALBANY, Ore. - Only after Jesse Smith finished tearing out the walls of his old elementary school did he recognize how old those walls were.

"We were sweeping out the bottom when we found all the stuff in the debris," he said of the work at Central Elementary School.

"I thought, wow, this must be old," said the worker on the earthquake retrofit project, "and then I read the note."

Dated Nov. 14, 1949, the note is a letter to the school from a mom, a request to keep her son out of classes.

"Looks like it says Don is having trouble with his knee again," Smith said.

As crews sifted through the debris, they found an old football and an old baseball and glove.

"I was surprised that there was stuff, hoping that there was more stuff, in the walls, you know, more cool old stuff," he said.

The school plans to put the items on display when classes resume this fall.

This school made history in the early 1900's. It was the site of the Civil War football game back in 1912 and 1913 when it was Albany College. Riots erupted after the 1910 game so school officials moved the game to a neutral field.