The Americans & Baguio City
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- Kennon Road & Baguio by Ernesto Zarate
Baguio visitors and residents alike might wonder why so many streets, parks and other areas within the city have foreign names, particularly American names.
This is because, as the history of Baguio City will reveal, the city was developed by the Americans in the early 20th century when the Philippines was under American colonial rule.
Let me tell you a little more about these personages and the roles they played in the development of the city, in Baguio history and in the history of the Philippines,
as well as which Baguio attractions roads or landmarks are named after them.
Henry Tureman Allen.
His first stint in the Philippines was to serve as civil governor of Leyte. Eventually he organized and commanded, as a Brigadier General, the Philippine Constabulary, before going on in 1904 as an observer with the Japanese Army in Korea.
Camp Allen, the original home of the Philippine Military Academy (which began as the officers school of the Philippine Constabulary), is named after him.
Daniel Hudson Burnham
Burnham (1846-1912) was one of Chicago's greatest architects and urban planners, whose Philippine resume includes Roxas Boulevard (formerly Dewey) in Manila as well as Baguio City itself.
Daniel Burham had grand visions for everything he designed. For Baguio, he 'forced' a splendid geometric pattern amid rolling hills and winding roads, which is what we know now as Burnham Park, around which the rest of the city was built.
Francis Burton Harrison
Governor-General of the Philippines from 1913-1921, the predecessor of Leonard Wood.
One of the city's main avenues, along the northeast side of Burnham Park, parallel to Session Road and connecting Governor Pack Road to Magsaysay Road, is named after him.
John Milton Hay
John Milton Hay (1838-1905) - An American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln. He served as Secretary of State under U.S. Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt from 1898 - 1905.
Thus the premiere U.S. Armed Forces rest and recreation facility in the Far East, Camp John Hay, was named after him
Colonel Lyman W. V. Kennon
Col. Lyman Walter Vere Kennon was the U.S. Army officer who completed the daunting task of building Kennon Road, where others before him had failed. Read more about his contributions in detail in this article on the building of Kennon Road by architect Ernesto Zarate.
George A. Malcolm
George A. Malcolm (1881-1961) was appointed, at age 35, by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1917, where he served until 1936, when he was forced to retire upon the enactment of the 1935 Constitution, which limited Supreme Court membership to Filipinos. One of his greatest contributions was the establishment of the University of the Philippines College of Law, that started in the original campus at Padre Faura in Manila.
Malcolm Square, also known as People's Park, which is Baguio's version of Manila's Plaza Miranda, where political rallies and debates are held, is aptly named after him.
Leonard Wood
Leonard Wood was the American Governor-General from 1921-1927.
The heavily wooded avenue connecting Session Road to Mines View Park, passing Teachers Camp and Botanical Garden is named after him.
Luke E. Wright
Luke Edward Wright served as American Governor-Governor in the Philippines from 1904-1906. It was he who ordered architect Daniel H. Burnham to build Baguio as a recreational facility for American soldiers and civilians.
Beautiful Wright Park, across Governor-General's official summer residence, Mansion House, is named after him. Mansion House has been renamed The Mansion and now serves as the official summer residence of the President of the Philippines.
The American Government in
the Philippines
After the mock battle of Manila Bay between Spain and the United States in 1898, the United States established a military govenment in the Philippine Islands.
U.S. Military Government (1898-1901)
1898
Wesley Merritt
1898-1900
Elwell S. Otis
1900-1901
Arthur MacArthur, Jr.
From 1901 to 1935,
a Governor-General, appointed by the President of the United States and approved by the Senate. exercised active executive authority over the nation.
U.S. Civil Governors
(1901-1906)
1901-1904
William Howard Taft
1904-1906
Luke E. Wright
1906
Henry Clay Ide
U.S. Governors-General (1906-1935)
1906-1907
James Francis Smith
1907-1908
Newton W. Gilbert
1908-1913
William Cameron Forbes
1913-1921
Francis Burton Harrison
1921
Charles Yeater
1921-1927
Leonard Wood
1927
Eugene Allen Gilmore
1927-1929
Henry L. Stimson
1929-1930
Eugene Allen Gilmore
1930-1932
Dwight Filley Davis
1932-1933
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
1933-1935
Frank Murphy
Sources:
Other Notable American Names
Governor Pack Road, a wide road connecting Marcos Highway to downtown Baguio is named after William Pack, who was appointed governor of the province of Benguet on November 15, 1901. He became the first governor of Mountain Province and served from March 15, 1909 to December 31, 1912.
Brent Road. A short strip leading to the Brent International School was named after Reverend Charles Henry Brent. He came to the Philippines in the 1900s and became the first bishop of the Episcopalian Church in that country. In 1909, he founded the school named after him.
Kneedler Road off beautiful South Drive, is named after Dr. Harry Dolome Kneedler, who came to the Philippines with the United States Medical Corps during the 1900s. He stayed and became a rich realtor.
It is after Melvin Jones, founder of the Lion's Club International,a socio-civic organization that has a very active chapter in the city, that the football field playing area and grandstand at Burnham Park is named.
Robert Baden-Powell was the founder of the Boy Scouts. What used to be the Boy Scouts of the Philippines headquarters is now Baden Powell Inn on Governor Pack Road. The commemorative marker of the First Session of the Second Philippine Commission after which Session Road is named can be found here.
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