CENTRAL SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Palmer High School is celebrating its 150th anniversary on Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm with an open house, offering the public a chance to view historical artifacts before they are packed away for renovations.
The school's first class graduated in 1875. Today, the Palmer High School museum houses items dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, including a report card from 1936, old uniforms, and sports memorabilia.
"We are considered one of the oldest continuously running schools west of the Mississippi so we have this 150 plus years of uninterrupted classes we've made it through the Great Depression, the Great Recession, both World Wars," Palmer Alumni Association board member Kaleigh O’Donnell said.
The museum preserves decades of graduating classes. Susan Fletcher, president of the Colorado Springs High School Palmer Alumni Association, said a dance card from a 1936 spring formal is her favorite item.
"I really probably do love the dance card the best. If you were interested in dancing with a young woman, she would be wearing this on a string around her wrist, and if you wanted to dance with her, you had to go and you had to sign her dance card. So this was, this is one from the spring formal in 1936," Fletcher said.
Fletcher noted that current students enjoy looking through the archives and sometimes look for a familiar face.
"The kids love to go through the yearbooks because if they are generational Palmer graduates, they will go through and they will find grandma or great grandma or mom or dad or aunt or uncle in the yearbooks," Fletcher said.
The oldest yearbook in the archives is from 1911, but News5 was able to see the brown yearbook from 1912. Fletcher said the museum holds two copies of each yearbook, the only years missing from 1911 to 2026 are 2023 and 2024.
The museum also features hundreds of photos on the walls and in "Hall of Fame" memory books. Some notable alumni including Elvira and Reggie Jackson.
"It's up to us to carry on the torch and yes, not every torch needs to be carried, but this one is important," O’Donnell said.
The school has gone through four mascots since the first class graduated in 1875. One mascot, Eagle Beak, even made it to the Supreme Court.
"We adopted Eagle Beak and used him for several decades before it was rightly pointed out that he is politically incorrect. He's definitely an over stereotypical caricature of a Native American, and so the school no longer uses that," said O'Donnell.
O'Donnell said Palmer High School was the first school to go to the Supreme Court to argue their right to use it and lost.
"Out of respect to the kids and the legend, we have found this middle ground where we still celebrate this old mascot and the traditions that it was trying to teach here at the school," O'Donnell said, "Like the actual fact that the Southern Ute Indian people were here at the same time that Palmer founded the Fountain Colony. So from the start, Palmer has been intertwined with the Native American community that calls this place home before we got here."
The new mascot is Eagle Beak 2, an American bald eagle.
Big renovations are on the calendar for Palmer High School this summer, meaning these historical items will soon be put in boxes.
"It could be in storage for as long as the next five years, depending on how long construction takes. We really do need the public to come out and celebrate this history with us this weekend because if not, we will momentarily lose this out of the public light for a while and then we've got to make sure it's not lost forever," O’Donnell said.
