San José State University traces back to 1857 when the institution operated as a normal school for the San Francisco public school system. It grew in size and scope until May 2, 1862 when the California State Senate adopted a funding bill to turn it into the flagship campus of the California State Normal School System. The southern campus of the normal school would eventually turn into the University of California, Los Angeles, and the California State Normal School System would eventually grow into the California State University system.

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 ($94,490 in 2024) 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. Because of these issues, the Normal School moved sites six times while in San Francisco, citing noise complaints, sanitary concerns, and lack of access to proper facilities and materials.

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 ($6.52 million in 2024) 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. The legislature ultimately settled to give $100,000 in partial emergency funds to the school for the construction of a new building, which finished construction in 1881.

As a part of the construction of the new building, a large bell was forged to commemorate the school. The bell cost $1,200 ($39,099 in 2024), 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.