Margaret Hemphill McCalla was born in Bloomington in 1836. After first attending a one-room school, she graduated from the Monroe County Female Seminary. Following service as a one-room school teacher, McCalla began instructing at the Bloomington Graded School upon its establishment in 1863. When Bloomington High School, one of the first in the state, was founded, McCalla was closely involved in the process. McCalla first taught mathematics and was then elected school superintendent from 1875-1877, the first woman in Indiana to hold this position. In 1908, the new Bloomington elementary school at Tenth Street and Indiana Avenue was named in her honor.