A Vancouver elementary school marked its 100th anniversary by digging out a time capsule laid in the school's foundation in 1919, even though no one organizing celebrations originally knew it was there.

Shaughnessy Elementary School on Marguerite Street has a rich history and plenty of alumni. As volunteers began preparing for its 100th birthday, two of them discovered the existence of the time capsule.

Chelsea Miller and fellow former student Sabrina LaFrance, who both have children at Shaughnessy, came across a newspaper article about a royal visit from Edward, Prince of Wales on Sept. 22, 1919.

The newspaper article from 1919 that alerted parent volunteers at Shaughnessy Elementary School that a time capsule existed in the school's foundation stone. (Doug Kerr/CBC)

The article said that his visit included putting a time capsule inside the building's foundation stone.

"We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw this little article ... about records being deposited in the foundation stone," said Miller.

Sabrina LaFrance and Chelsea Miller were the ones who discovered the newspaper article about the time capsule at Shaughnessy Elementary School. (Doug Kerr/CBC)

The pair brought the news to Principal Janet Souther.

"The prinicpal said, 'oh my gosh are you kidding? And we said, no we're not,'" said LaFrance. "And now can we think about finding it?"

The stairwell at Shaughnessy Elementary School in Vancouver where engineers drilled to reveal the time capsule in the foundation stone. (Doug Kerr/CBC)

Over the years the school had been built up around the foundation stone, so it took time to figure out that the foundation stone was accessible from a stair well.

An engineering company was hired to drill into the stone to find the bottle. Once it was pulled out, Souther was the one who opened it.

"It was actually really emotional and I know that I had tears in my eyes as I took it out," she said. "Something that we thought was lost had actually been found."

The hole in the foundation stone where a time capsule at Shaughnessy Elementary School was discovered in September 2019. (Doug Kerr/CBC)

"The history of the school was going to come so alive for the children who are working here today."

The bottle contained newspapers from the day it was put in the stone, along with coins from 1919 and some other documents.

Coins found in the Shaugnessy Elementary School time capsule from 1919. (Doug Kerr/CBC)

Now the school plans to do another time capsule to be uncovered in 2119. But this time, they'll make sure future generations know about it.

"We're going to tell someone where we hide it so that they'll be able to find it without sleuthing quite as hard as we had to," said Souther.