Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla

With spacious grass and beach areas and the spectacular views it affords, Scripps Park is a favorite of La Jolla residents, young and old its seaside gazebos host the town's most memorable picnics.

In 1904 the park was a place for tents, manure piles, tins and bottles. But largely through the efforts of local resident Walter Lieber, it was cleared and adorned by a row of slender Washington palms. In 1909 La Jolla residents celebrated Lincoln's 100th birthday by erecting the pork's flagstaff, and in 1927, on the occasion of Ellen Browning Scripps's ninety-first birthday the San Diego Park Commission bestowed her name on the dear little park. On her 100th birthday the landmark Monterey cypress was planted honoring her unselfish efforts to improve the quality of life in La Jolla.

Women such as Kate Sessions, Anna Held Heinrich and Eleanore Mills played a vital role in developing La Jolla into the thriving community it is today. None, however, deserve more credit than Ellen Browning Scripps. Described as to Jolla's fairy godmother and resident philanthropist, the remarkable early citizen possessed both wisdom and foresight. Her ways were humble and unassuming, yet her accomplishments are countless. Her name is synonymous with the most respected medical, scientific, academic and cultural institutions. A few of her local benefactions include The Athenaeum, The La Jolla Women's Club, The Children's Pool, Torrey Pines State Park, The Bishop's School, The La Jolla Public Library, Scripps Memorial Hospitals, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, The La Jolla Recreation Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and large contributions to a myriad of causes and groups. No one can estimate what her advent meant to La Jolla, or exactly how much money Miss Ellen donated to her philanthropies, but it was surely in the millions. La Jolla was truly blessed by the presence of Ellen Browning Scripps, one of those rare human beings whose unselfish commitment leaves an imprint on civilization.