A brothel? What came before the schoolhouse?

Before the Silver City Schoolhouse was built in 1867, something else stood in its spot. What it might have been is anybody's guess.

But residents who spent last weekend digging under the older, southern wing of the schoolhouse discovered a rock wall that did not belong to the schoolhouse.

On the wall was a pair of 19th-century children's shoes.

"The wall appears to be older than the school," said Ron Reno, a Silver City resident who is also an archaeologist with Zeier & Associates of Minden.