Bemidji State University Buries Centennial Time Capsule

For the past 18 months, BSU has been celebrating its 100-year history. And the burial of the capsule commemorated the end of its Centennial Celebration.

“This is really a milestone,” said Al Nohner, Bemidji State University alumnus. “It’s a point of which the university gets to look back and consider what it’s done and where it’s been, but also to look forward to what it wants to be and what it can be.”

The time capsule was filled to the top with artifacts, BSU memorabilia, letters from the Bemidji community, BSU apparel such as hats and t-shirts, a current map of the campus, a hockey puck, and a letter from University President Faith Hensrud.

Al Nohner was a student during the university’s 50^th anniversary in 1969, and 25 years later while working at the Communications and Marketing office, he was involved in its 75^th anniversary.

“When they open this up in 100 years, they’ll look at it and say, ‘there were people who put these things in. Everything in this, means something to an individual. 100 years ago, let’s find out what it means today and see how it relates to today,’” Nohner said.

Student Body President Matthew Sauser says it’s cool to be part of history and he hopes to be alive when they take out the time capsule.

“It connects us to the past, we kind of see that throughout time no matter what’s going on, both, at home, at school, nationally, throughout the world, that life progressing and we’re here now is the same as it was 100 years ago,” Sauser said.

Two weeks ago, they discovered a time capsule from 1918 in the corner stone of what is now known as Deputy Hall.

“The interesting thing is, when we first opened it up, the first thing we saw was a document that indicated who had actually created and sealed the box,” said Dr. Faith Hensrud, Bemidji State University President.

The 101-year-old time capsule had a couple of newspapers inside from Bemidji, Minneapolis and Duluth, as well as postcards of buildings around town, some pictures, and old documents.

“Some of the legislation that put the funding in place to build the Bemidji Normal School, and specifically there was a document that said how many dollars were provided to build it. And at that time the amount was $75,000. It also noted that $150,000 was requested but they were given half of that to get started,” Hensrud said.

The capsule that was planted today will be taken out in 100 years, and this will allow future university students to travel back in time to October of 2019.

You can see the 1918 time capsule on display at the Ramsey Gallery of BSU’s Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex.