SDSU Celebrates 125 Years Beginning in University Heights: 1910 to 1920
Founded in 1897, San Diego State University (SDSU) is celebrating 125 years of history this year. After California Governor James Budd signed legislation on March 13, 1897 creating the State Normal School of San Diego, the Board of Trustees established its first campus in University Heights in 1898.
SDSU began as a training facility in 1898 for elementary school teachers at the San Diego Normal School in University Heights. It became San Diego State Teachers College in 1921 and in 1931, the college moved to Montezuma Mesa where it eventually was named San Diego State University.
Edward Hardy Appointed Second President of the Normal School
Edward Hardy, President of San Diego Normal School, 1910-1935. Courtesy of SDSU Library Digital Collections.
After the first Normal School President, Samuel Black, retired in 1910, the Board of Trustees appointed Edward L. Hardy as school president in 1910. From 1910 to 1935, President Hardy headed a vigorous administration that oversaw major changes to the fledgling institution.
He hired additional faculty during his first two years in office bringing the total number of faculty to 27 in 1912; many of the new faculty had prior experience working in either public schools or other normal schools across the country.
Student Organizations Thrive at Normal School
Student organizations which were established during the school's first year continued to thrive under Hardy's administration. Student groups held dances, picnics, plays, carnivals, and other activities.
An Associated Students organization was established in 1922 to help organize student groups and activities. By the end of the 1920s, fraternities and sororities had been established as well as intercollegiate sports, thus creating a real sense of collegiate life. It was also during this time that the college adopted the "Aztecs" moniker and the red-and-black color scheme.
Normal School Culture
Normal School Masthead. Courtesy of SDSU Library Digital Collections.
The Normal News masthead proudly declared what “The Normal School Stands For … The Elementary School, A Better Rural School, The Peace Movement, and Democracy — but a Democracy Saved by Efficiency.”
Students created their own “yell”:
“One-Two-Three; Who are we?; We're the normals.; Don't you see?; Are we in it?; I should smile; We are in it; All the While Kemo-kimo-wero-war!; The normalites we are, we are!; Ho! Cry krickle, krackle!; Solly-wolly-wiggle-waggle!; Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop! Chop! Che, che, cha, cha, cha; Normal Normal, rah! rah! rah!”
The school also had its own song:
“You may talk about your colleges; Your high schools and the like; And all your dinky boarding schools; That litter up the pike; Of the blue and gold of U.C.; And of Stanford's crimson hue; From our dreamy San Diego; Up to Shasta's plain; Away off to old Mexico, away back home again; There's no college, university, or school can ever star; So brave, so true, or such a crew of students, as we are; For we are the jolly students of the Normal School; We've come to rule; Our colors are yellow and white; We'll bear the standard proud and high of our beloved school; Rah! Rah! Rah!; We're the crowd that do or die; For we are the jolly students of the Normal School; We've come to rule; Our colors are yellow and white; We bear the standard proud and high of our beloved school; Rah! Rah! Rah!”
Drafting Classroom & Men’s Locker Room Built in 1922
San Diego Normal School Drafting Classroom & Men’s Locker Room, 1922. Courtesy of University Heights Historical Society.
A smaller Period Revival building was constructed in 1922 for use as the San Diego Normal School Drafting Classroom & Men’s Locker Room. Later the building housed a gymnasium and men’s locker room for the Horace Mann Junior High School.
The building still stands today and exhibits design features similar to those of the nearby Teachers Training Annex including a rectilinear plan, a hipped roof, and revival style details attributed to Spanish, Mediterranean and Classical Revival/Beaux Arts building architecture.
For our entire blog series about the 125th anniversary of San Diego State University beginning at the Normal Street site, click below: