Rehoboth High School alumni to unveil history room

Decades of memorabilia and artifacts are set to be unveiled Friday, Sept. 22, when Cape Henlopen School District hosts an open house of the Rehoboth High School History Room.

The room represents district efforts to honor the school that served students from 1939-69 in a large Art Deco-styled building overlooking Silver Lake’s Turtle Bridge. 

The building later housed junior high and elementary students after the consolidation of Rehoboth, Lewes and Milton school districts formed Cape Henlopen School District in 1969. 

After the new Rehoboth Elementary opened in September 2019, the old Rehoboth High School building was demolished to make way for basketball and pickleball courts, an outdoor classroom and an archway made from the school’s original name block and cornerstone.

Cape district leaders dedicated a history room within the walls of Rehoboth Elementary to house artifacts and memorabilia documenting the students and staff who attended and worked in the school from 1939-69. 

Heavy wooden doors from the former school hang in the history room, which also features bookshelves from the library, glass cases from the main lobby and the wooden floor of the old gym.

A little over a year ago, Rehoboth High alumni Hope Wilson Lavachia, Jackie Johnson Shockley and Gail Nowakowski began working with district officials and other graduates to fill the room with trophies, yearbooks, photos, newspaper clippings, uniforms and other historical memorabilia.

Alumni and their families came through with a variety of donations, including a varsity letter sweater worn by alumna and Cape coaching legend Ruth Sponaugle Skoglund, a letterman jacket from alumnus Chuck Mowll, various trophies, and photos dating to the 1940s. 

The open house is set for 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 22 at Rehoboth Elementary School, 500 Stockley St.