19th Century , the first principal of what would become
San Jose State University. After a private
normal school closed in
San Francisco after only one year, politicians
John Swett and Henry B. Janes sought to establish a normal school for
San Francisco's public school system, and approached
George W. Minns to be the principal for the nascent institution, with Swett as an assistant principal. The normal school began operations in 1857 and became known as the
Minns Evening Normal School. Classes were only held once a week, and only graduated 54 female students across its existence, however the program proved to be enough of a success for increased funding to be approved. In 1861, after the continued success of the Evening School, superintendent
Andrew J. Moulder requested that a committee be formed to create a report on the merits of fully funding a state normal school. Minns and Swett were among several Evening School faculty appointed to the committee, which presented its report to the
California State Legislator in January 1862. On May 2, 1862, the
California State Senate adopted a statue to fund an initial $3,000 for a state normal school and to appoint a
board of trustees for the school. The
California State Normal School was then opened on July 21, 1862. Despite continued success, with increasing enrollment and funding, the California State Normal School quickly began to hold contention with the
San Francisco Board of Education, which poached students and withheld sufficient school facilities. In 1864, Principal
Ahira Holmes went as far as to suggest that the cold, damp, and unventilated rooms of the Old Assembly Hall were responsible for a
diphtheria outbreak among that year's students. In 1868, more serious talks of finding a permanent location for the Normal School began, with a general consensus that the school needed to cut ties with the San Francisco Board of Education and move out of San Francisco. On the December 15th, 1868 board of trustees meeting, State Superintendent
Oscar P. Fitzgerald was authorized to begin discussions with the
Regents of the University of California about the possibility of merging the
University of California and the California State Normal School, though discussions ended quickly. After it became public that the Normal School was looking to move for a permanent location, several cities put in bids to home the school, including
San Jose,
Santa Clara,
Vallejo,
Stockton,
Martinez, and
Oakland. However after the
San Jose Railroad Company paid to have the entire student and faculty body tour the city and potential locations for the school, San Jose became the preferred site. The school moved to San Jose in 1871 and was given Washington Square Park at S. 4th and San Carlos Streets, where the campus remains to this day. The first building on Washington Square was opened in 1872 and fully completed in 1876, as a three story wooden building in a
classical style, however in 1880 the building was destroyed in a fire. After its destruction, Principal
Charles H. Allen journeyed to
Sacramento to request the California State Legislator to issue $200,000 in emergency funds for a new building. This caused significant debate in the senate about the effectiveness of the school and if it would be better served elsewhere. The
California State Senate voted to move the school to
Los Angeles, but was ultimately kept in San Jose after objections by the
California State Assembly. As a part of the construction of the new building, a large bell was forged to commemorate the school. The bell cost $1,200 , and was inscribed with the words "California State Normal School, A.D. 1881," and would sound every morning at 8AM. After the destruction of the new building in 1906, the bell was only sound on special occasions, until 1946 when the college obtained new chimes. The original bell appears on the SJSU campus to this day and is still associated with various student traditions and rituals. Immediately after the failed attempt to move State Normal School to Los Angeles, California State Senator J.P. West sponsored a bill to create a "Branch State Normal School" in Los Angeles. The bill was passed by both houses, and opened in August 1882. The southern branch campus was initially under administrative control of the San Jose campus, however southern Californians found the arrangement unsatisfactory, claiming, that the original goal of creating a normal school was to train teachers to work in local schools and serve local needs. Therefore, in 1887, the state legislature decided that the northern and southern branches would have their own boards of trustees. From then until 1921, the State Normal Schools were each governed by their own boards, which meant they did not function as a system in the modern sense. In 1919, the southern branch of the California State Normal School became the southern branch of the University of California, and later became the
University of California, Los Angeles. In 1887, Principal Allen helped to found the Chico State Normal School (which later became
California State University, Chico), though the institution was never under administrative control of the San Jose State Normal School, per the arrangement established in 1887. By the end of the 19th century, the State Normal School in San Jose was graduating roughly 130 teachers a year and was "one of the best known normal schools in the West."
20th Century On the morning of April 18, 1906, an
earthquake devastated northern California. Although no Normal School building was outright destroyed, the main building received significant structural damage, was deemed unsafe for use, and classes were shifted to be held in either the annex building or held outdoors from April 23rd onward. School President
Morris Elmer Dailey missed the earthquake, and was instead in
Hamburg, Iowa en route to Europe. Discussions for the funding of the new building were lengthy, with both California Governor
George C. Pardee, and his successor Governor
James N. Gillett, argued that the construction of the new building should only cost $250,000 , while Dailey and the school board of trustees argued for as much as $350,000 . Ultimately $310,000 was awarded to the school for the construction, while actual costs eventually totaled above $325,000. In 1935, the teachers colleges prevailed after a three-year battle over whether they should be allowed to expand beyond
vocational education to provide a broader
liberal arts education, one of the traditional prerogatives of the University of California. The state legislature renamed all of them to State Colleges and expressly authorized them to provide four years of liberal arts education culminating in bachelor's degrees. The new
San Jose State College was no longer limited to educating exclusively teachers. In 1922, the State Teachers College at San Jose adopted the Spartans as the school's official mascot and nickname. Mascots and nicknames prior to 1922 included the Daniels, the Teachers, the Pedagogues, the Normals and the Normalites. In 1930, the Justice Studies Department was founded as a two-year police science degree program. It holds the distinction of offering the first policing degree in the United States. A stone monument and plaque are displayed close to the site of the original police school near
Tower Hall. In 1942, the old gym (now named Yoshihiro Uchida Hall, after SJSU judo coach
Yosh Uchida) was used to register and collect Japanese Americans before sending them to
internment camps. Uchida's own family members were interred at some of these camps. In 1963, in an effort to save Tower Hall from demolition, SJSU students and alumni organized testimonials before the State College Board of Trustees, sent telegrams and provided signed petitions. As a result of those efforts, the tower, a principal campus landmark and SJSU icon, was refurbished and reopened in 1966. The tower was again renovated and restored in 2007. Tower Hall is registered with the California Office of Historic Preservation. During the 1960s and early 1970s, San Jose State College witnessed a rise in political activism and civic awareness among its student body, including major student protests against the
Vietnam War. One of the largest campus protests took place in 1967 when
Dow Chemical Company — a major manufacturer of
napalm used in the war — came to campus to conduct job recruiting. An estimated 3,000 students and bystanders surrounded the 7th Street administration building, and more than 200 students and teachers lay down on the ground in front of the recruiters. In 1972, upon meeting criteria established by the board of trustees and the Coordinating Council for Higher Education, SJSC was granted university status, and the name was changed to
California State University, San Jose. However, in 1974, the California legislature voted to change the school's name to
San José State University. == Athletics ==