Treasure Mountain opened in 1982 and was named for the silver mines that shaped Park City. During its 40-year-long history, the school has gone through two name changes and hosted varying grade ranges from kindergartners to ninth graders.
This week, Treasure Mountain students will exit its doors for the last time.
The school is closing and will be torn down in the fall.
To celebrate the memories made there and say goodbye, the Park City School District hosted a “sweet farewell” featuring free gelato from Park City Desserts, yearbooks from each school year and photos that captured Treasure’s highlights.
Brian Schiller, Treasure’s first principal, attended the party. Now in his 70s, he remembers many of the original staff members' names, including school cook Billy Wilma Larimore, who made chocolate sheet cakes using grapefruit that was legend among students, and Judy Holt, the best school counselor Schiller said he ever worked with.
Schiller said his proudest achievement while at Treasure was starting a child care program with Holt. He said child care was just as challenging to find then as it is now, but he wanted to ensure young teachers didn’t have to leave the school.
“We figured we couldn't afford to lose those people. They were strong, young educators,” Schiller said.
Former student Summer March said Schiller was an “awesome” principal and stands out in her memory when thinking of Treasure. Schiller had his trademarks; he always wore a suit or sport coat and tie, and started his morning announcements with “Good morning ladies and germs,” a reference to the famous 1950s comedian, Milton Berle.
March also said she remembers burying time capsules in big PVC pipes in the field behind Treasure. They were meant to be opened 10 years ago, but weren’t. Now, March and some of her former classmates have vowed to find them before the school is demolished.
Margery Hadden taught fourth grade at Treasure when Schiller was principal, but moved over to McPolin Elementary when it opened next door.
“I always had a job sharing partner, and we did everything we could to get back here,” Hadden said. “We loved the faculty, and we really loved Brian Schiller, who was our principal, and we really wanted to work for him.”
Hadden worked at Treasure for 14 years. She said one of her favorite parts of working there was the school’s end-of-year Shakespeare performance. She said students always showed a lot of camaraderie. Another highlight was during the Olympics.
Hadden said staff and students were kicked out of the school and media crews took it over. The media slept in the gym and used the building during downtime.
“We had a week before the Olympics starts that we weren't in school because they had to get ready,” she said. “Most of us, you know, skied our brains out for a week and then went to the Olympics for two weeks. So it was a really great time.”
Schiller and Hadden said they aren’t sorry to see Treasure go. While they have very fond memories of their time at the school, they believe its faulty HVAC system made many staff sick.
Schiller said the building is just an edifice; the people who walked the halls are what’s really important.
“In mass education, children get to see lots of human models, custodians and cooks and principals and teachers and you name it, counselors, and hopefully, by observing all those models and how we interact with one another and with the children, children learn what it means to be human, and hopefully a human full of love and compassion and understanding and acceptance for others,” he said.
Once the Treasure is torn down, a new district sports complex with two soccer fields and eight tennis courts will be built in its place.
For the 2025-2026 school year, eighth grade students and staff will move to Ecker Hill Middle School and ninth grade students and staff will attend Park City High School.
