Victress Bower School is named after Victress Bower, who was born January 22, 1874. She began her teaching career in Minnesota before coming Riverside in 1908, where she taught 7th and 8th grades until her retirement in 1926. Although she never taught special students, she always had an interest in helping the handicapped. She received a large inheritance which she wisely invested. Upon her death in 1967, she established a perpetual trust fund, the interest of which is used each year to provide scholarships to prepare teachers in Riverside County for the education of handicapped children. In honor of this woman, who has been such a friend of special education in Riverside, Victress Bower School for Exceptional Students was named.
Program began: September 1968 with 32 students in a kindergarten classroom on the Buena Vista location where our current Warehouse and Orange Grove High School is located next to the Corona Police Department and City Hall.
Building completed: January 1969
Name Dedication: October 27, 1970
Addition to building completed: December 1980
Dedication: February 25, 1981
Modernization of original building completed: 2000-2001