White City on the Hill Drew a Full House

Madame Tingley and the Theosophical Society Community on Point Loma

Many people have heard of the Theosophical Society Community on Point Loma. But who were the Theosophists and what where they doing on Point Loma? Find out at the Aug. 21, 2008 OBHS meeting at P.L.U.M. by our featured presenter Bruce Coughran.

Coughran grew up adjacent to the property (which is now Point Loma Nazarene University) and went on to write a master’s thesis on the colony.
From 1897 to 1942 the Theosophists, and their charismatic leader Katherine Tingley, were influential residents on Point Loma, while working for “Universal Brotherhood” around the world. Their community numbered almost 500 people at its peak, and the huge glass-domed buildings were a must see destination for visitors to San Diego from the turn of the Century to the 1920s. They had a symphony orchestra, a colony of artists, philosophers, scholars, writers, archeologists, a school for children, a university, vast agriculture and industries, including printing and weaving. They put on plays,
concerts, lectures and published books, not to mention being the headquarters for an international society.
Coughran’s prentation about the Theosophists and why they came here was full of interesting facts about our history on the hill.