President of Northern Normal from 1899-1904
Biography:
Dwight B. Waldo was born in New York in 1864 and moved to downstate Michigan in 1873. He attended Michigan Agricultural College (which went on to become Michigan State University), as well as Albion College and Harvard University for graduate school in history and economics. He later became the chair of political science and economics at Albion. When he heard about a new normal school planned for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, though, he made every effort possible to become involved. Technically, Waldo was considered the principal of Northern State Normal School, rather than the president. However, he still took on plenty of responsibility: he had to negotiate places to stay for Northern’s first students and played a significant role in choosing its faculty and staff. He also oversaw construction of Longyear Hall and Peter White Hall of Science. While Principal Waldo only stayed at Northern for 5 years before moving on as Principal of Western State Normal School (now Western Michigan University), he will always be remembered by Waldo St. in the city of Marquette and Waldo Pond in NMU’s Longyear Forest.
