Description

In the 1920s and 30s, SDSU transitioned from a a small women’s teachers school to a co-ed teachers college with a progressive curriculum. The old location in University Heights could no longer support the enlarging student body. The current site in Mission Palisades was a gift from LA oil tycoon Alphonzo E. Bell through his Bell-Lloyd Investment Company. Building began in the Mission Palisades location in 1930, but due to the depression, Bell-Lloyd pulled out of the project in 1936 (The Bell-Lloyd/Mission Palisades housing tract was experiencing slow sales). WPA money was essential to continuing the development of the college. WPA projects at SDSU include: the Aztec Bowl, the Open Air Theatre, over 100 wooden and concrete benches in the quads, classroom annexes and building expansions, the Music Building, and funding for sculpture and mural painting.