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Former social worker Katherine Augusta Westcott Tingley (1847-1929) commissioned the construction of this Greek Theatre, the first in CA, in 1901. Tingley became head of this eclectic religious group in 1898, amid fractures within the movement. Tingley joined the American Section of the Theosophist movement in 1894, and rose rapidly in the organization. By 1898 she succeeded William Q. Judge (d. 1896) as its leader. Various secessions had reduced the group's ranks during the 1890s, and, in this context of turbulence, she decided to move the church's headquarters from chaotic New York to a site relatively free of distractions, prejudice and preconceptions. She heard of this Point Loma site overlooking the Pacific (and, metaphorically, the theosophist's spiritual origins in India) from Gottfried de Purucker (1874-1942), another Theosophist leader in 1894; she first visited in 1896 and, a year later, bought land at Point Loma. On 02/23/1897, she laid the cornerstone for a new Theosophist building here and, two years later, she moved here permanently. The American Section of the Theosophical Society relocated its headquarters to Point Loma, San Diego, CA, on 02/13/1900, from New York, where years of bitter squabbles had occurred. She named this new colony, "Lomaland," and between 1900 and her death in 1929, her group flourished here, reshaping the barren landscape, planting trees, raising crops and building houses. The group became particularly adept at growing and marketing avocados. It also had a deep impact on the cultural life of San Diego, providing dramatic and musical presentations for the community. Many of these performances occurred at the influential Greek Theatre.

In 1909, a new stoa was added to the theatre.

PCAD id: 19182