History of San Diego State University - Establishment

Establishment

In the late 1890s, San Diego officials believed that a normal school should be established to help the town grow and increase certification of teachers. The tuition and travel for out-of-town normal schools were large and San Diegans desired to have a closer school. San Diego had to compete with Fresno, Los Angeles, and several other cities for a school, and its first attempt to establish one was vetoed by California governor James Budd. On March 13, 1897 Governor Budd changed course and signed legislation appropriating $50,000 to allow for the establishment of a state normal school in San Diego, to be located in University Heights. By 1905, total funds appropriated to the school totaled $333,300.

The Board of Trustees for San Diego Normal School was established by Budd and first met on June 3, 1897. They appointed Samuel T. Black, who had previously served as the California Superintendent for Public Instruction, as president of the new school by unanimous decision on October 1, 1898. On January 21, 1898, the San Diego firm Hebbard and Gill was selected to design the new school building. The architect Irving Gill, who developed the building in a Beaux-Arts style, was responsible for the design. The ground was broken for construction on August 1, the cornerstone of the building was laid on December 10, and the building was dedicated on May 1, 1899. During the building's construction, the first classes were held at the Hill Block on the southwest corner of 6th and F street in downtown San Diego beginning on November 1, 1898. The classes moved to the Normal School in May 1899, even as construction continued. 135 students (90% of whom were women), were enrolled by the end of the first year; enrollment grew to 400 by 1910.

In the summer of 1899, San Diego Normal School became the first California normal school to offer summer courses, and maintained this position until 1913. On June 21, 1900, the first class was graduated: 23 women and three men. Later that year, the east wing of the initial building was finished, adding 18 rooms. In 1903, $61,000 was appropriated by the state for a west wing; it included a gym, library, laboratories, lecture rooms, and a museum. The west wing was completed in September 1904. In 1906, the California legislature required that students have a high school diploma in order to be admitted to a normal school. This was the same requirement as for entry into the University of California.

In 1910, Samuel Black resigned, and was replaced by Edward L. Hardy, who had previously served as the principal of San Diego High School. He increased the faculty size from 19 to 27 in 1912 to meet the demands of increased enrollment. The annual salary for the president increased to $4,000 (from $3,400) in 1915 and salaries for the faculty and administration ranged from $600–2,500 (compared to the national average of $687 for all industries except for farm labor). Hardy argued for the pay increases, claiming increases would "give merited and much needed relief... will be entirely justified by the increased good of the service." More buildings were added after appropriations of funds in 1907 and total expenditures for the campus reached $312,000. Even with the expansion, by 1910 space was limited, so the training school dropped the high school program, although it still taught the elementary and intermediate grades (7th and 8th grades). In 1914, of the 136 new students for the school year, 17 were from California counties (excluding San Diego), while 26 were from other states. This proportion would remain common throughout the school's history as the majority of its students were from the San Diego area.