Complete Journal Issue - San Diego History Center

The Journal of San Diego History
Anna Bentham, the school’s first principal, was educated at the Boston Normal School and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. She founded the Sierra Madre Club for Women and the San Diego College Women’s
Club. Courtesy of The Bishop’s School.
problems put him at the forefront of the modernist movement in architecture. 54
Ellen became personally interested in The Bishop’s School, contributing more
money than she had planned. She explained to her attorney, “The execution of
the building itself has not exceeded the cost originally contemplated but you
know how things ‘grow,’ how one thing leads to and necessitates another—the
improvement of the grounds, the artistic bills of finish, the furnishing, etc., etc.”
She believed that the school was “destined to be a grand institution” and therefore
worth the investment. She wrote, “I feel more than assured that I have embarked
in an undertaking that is almost limitless in its scope and power for good.” 55
Virginia also felt responsible for the future of the institution. She donated
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