California State Normal School did not receive a permanent home until it moved from San Francisco to San Jose in 1871 . The original California State Normal School campus in San Jose consisted of several rectangular , wooden buildings with a central grass quadrangle . The wooden buildings were destroyed by fire in 1880 and were replaced by interconnected stone and masonry structures of roughly the same configuration in 1881 . These buildings were declared unsafe following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and were being torn down when an aftershock of the magnitude that was predicted to destroy the buildings occurred and no damage was observed . Accordingly , demolition was stopped , and the portions of the buildings still standing were made into four halls : Tower Hall , Morris Dailey Auditorium , Washington Square Hall , and Dwight Bentel Hall . These four structures remain standing to this day , and are the oldest buildings on campus
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
San Jose State University