July 2010 Time Capsule Stories 125th Anniversary Timeline

Moorhead Normal School's second president, Frank A. Weld was just 24 years old when he became a school superintendent in Zumbrota, Minnesota. Seventeen years later, after serving as superintendent to three schools and working in the publishing industry, he became president of the college in the summer of 1899. During his twenty year tenure at Moorhead Normal School, Weld worked to expand the curriculum and increase the faculty and student body of the school. He also served as president of the Minnesota Education Association. After retiring from the college in 1919, he worked again in publishing. Weld died in Missouri in 1933.

Frank A. Weld's son was named Frank Ewell Weld, the middle name in honor of his mother's family. But everyone at Moorhead Normal called him "Frank Jr.," and he remained so known in the memory of most of the early faculty and staff. After graduating from Moorhead Normal in 1917, young Frank joined the U.S. Navy and took part naval actions in World War I. He chose to remain in the Navy after the war and rose to the rank of Admiral before retiring. He was in charge of naval base units in the Caribbean during the Second World War.

Prior to the discovery of the time capsule in the cornerstone of Weld, there was no proper photograph of Natalie Thornton. A graduate of Beloit College, Thornton was a public school teacher and school principal and did graduate work at Columbia Teachers College. She served in the position of Dean of Women from 1914 to 1918 and taught classes in English at the college.

Millie H. Dahl began her career at Moorhead Normal School in 1910 as the resident nurse for the students of the college. In 1912, she was appointed the superintendent of the college's dormitories, remaining in that position for over forty-one years, until her retirement in 1953, by which time the college had become Moorhead State Teachers College.

Frank A. Weld, President

Frank E. Weld, age 16 ym, Son of the President, May 19, 1915

Miss Natalie Thornton, Dean of Women, 1915

Millie H. Dahl, Superintendent of Dormitories, 1910-1915