Benicia was known as the Athens of California due its many educational institutions for boys and girls. The early schools included the first public school (1849), Benicia Young Ladies Seminary (1852), St Catherine’s Dominican (1854), St. Mary’s of the Pacific (1870), Charles M. Blake’s boys boarding school (1852) and St Dominic’s school for boys (1854) . The Blake school closed in 1854, due to financial problems. In 1855, Professor C. J. Flatt re-opened the institution and renamed it the Benicia Collegiate Institute and by 1858, it had become California’s first law school. Tuition was $35 a month. In 1867, the college was reorganized and incorporated by Dr. James Lloyd Breck into the College of St. Augustine. Episcopalian Bishop J.H.D. Wingfield was one of its trustees. (His residence, now privately owned, still stands at 36 Wingfield Way on the original grounds.) The campus was 60 acres and attended by students from all over the world. It closed in 1889. This mural depicts beautiful school grounds with six boys playing baseball. Two boys sit in the grass, one watches the game while the other reads a book. A man on a bicycle passes a man strolling down a circular drive. In the background, an elegant façade of a school opens onto the grounds.