It Came Up Empty: Project To Unearth Middle School Time Capsule Ends

One of the coolest stories to come out of Bangor in the last couple of years, in my humble opinion, has been the tale of the "5th Street School" treasure hunt.

In a nutshell, former science teachers Richard Glueck and Betty Spekhardt, who were educators back in the 1980s at what was then called the "5th Street School" and which today is known as the "James F. Doughty" School in Bangor, had their students put together a time capsule back in 1986. The boys and girls who were in their classes had lived through some pretty major life events including the Challenger explosion in January 1986 and the Chornobyl disaster in April of that same year.

The class buried that time capsule, complete with newspaper clippings, VHS tapes, and letters they had written, in a spot by some trees on the school grounds. The plan was to dig it back up when they graduated.

That didn't happen.

As time passed, not only did the name of the school change, but the landscape and layout did as well.

And then the capsule seemed to have been all but forgotten. That is, until recently, when a middle school history teacher named Stephen Riitano took an interest, almost 40 years later, in something he had seen online...about a time capsule buried on the old 5th Street School grounds.

Read More: Treasure Hunt: Bangor's Doughty School On Hunt For Time Capsule

Riitano reconnected with Richard Glueck and some former students from the year the capsule was created, and with the eager help of members of the community and both past and present pupils, teachers, and administrators at the school, they put together a plan to locate and dig for the capsule. The hope was to bring the folks together, and perhaps give them some closure after all these years.

Read More: What’s The Deal With The Art On The Side Of This Bangor School?

A pretty cool byproduct of this entire process is that it has inspired a new generation of students to want to share their stories about living through hardships like a pandemic. Last June another capsule was created by new middle school pupils and buried on school grounds. This time they made sure to record exactly where the capsule was located.

Read More: Can You Help Unearth Bangor’s “5th Street School” Time Capsule From 1986?

The effort to find the old capsule was nothing short of herculean. Ground penetrating radar was brought in, and aerial photos from the late 1980s were consulted. People donated their time, talent, effort, and equipment to try to pinpoint where the capsule might be.

When they were fairly certain they'd gotten the location, they approached the school board and were ultimately permitted to dig.

Paul Strout, an alumnus of the old 5th Street School offered the use of his excavator for the effort.

And Monday, April 29th, Riitano, Glueck, and a small crew watched as Earth was moved to find the capsule.

Unfortunately, when they got to the spot where they thought it would be...it wasn't there. Nothing was there.

As disappointing as that initially the absence of anything first felt, Riitano says if you look at the big picture, the time capsule did what it set out to do, even if they couldn't physically find it.

"Today was a very bittersweet day. While this was not the outcome that many of us were hoping for, it is very important to remember that the time capsule did indeed serve its purpose."

"In 1986, the time capsule was meant to capture what it was like growing up as a teen on the west side in Bangor with the ultimate goal of reunifying everyone 25 years later.  38 years later, we did that."

"The former teacher, Mr. Glueck was able to see many of his former students. He even got to teach a very short, impromptu lesson today to some 8th graders about marine clay. He told me he hadn’t taught a class since 2010, and he missed it so much."
"Last June the Guardians placed their time capsule in the ground to be opened in 2048, keeping the tradition going that was started in 1986. "

"The original time capsule project demonstrates creative teaching practices that help support the population of students that attend the school, both past and present. It also highlights the dedication and hard work the school and staff had and still continue to have for the students who walk through the halls."