Never married, she was inspired by the loss of her brother, the teacher Jeremiah Wilbur Masters, to typhoid fever to start the school. Following her father's death in 1874, Eliza Masters founded the school at Wilde House, also called Kirk Knoll, near the school's present-day location.
Eliza Masters established the school following a loss and an illness that inspired her. She initiated the institution at Wilde House, later renamed Kirk Knoll, close to where it stands today.