 The school opened on September 15 , 1914 as Bowling Green State Normal School in two temporary locations at the Bowling Green Armory and at a branch school in Toledo for the 1914 – 1915 academic year . It initially enrolled 304 students from Ohio , Michigan , and New York who were taught by 21 faculty members . The school graduated its first class in 1915 , consisting of 35 certified teachers . University Hall and Williams Hall opened that year , the school 's first two permanent buildings . Two years later the first baccalaureate degrees for teacher education were awarded . On March 28 , 1920 a tornado , part of the 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak , damaged three of the school 's buildings . The tornado touched down near Bowling Green and strengthened as it moved into Ottawa County where it killed two people in Genoa . 
