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Welcome to the Camp John Hay Historical Core...a Living Museum! As Camp John Hay was shedding its military persona and donning a civilian character, a three hectare slice of the reservation was designated as a historical core. Deemed inviolate to the whims and winds of change, it was envisioned as more than just a window on time. While it provides a glimpse of the earliest days of the Camp, as a living museum it serves as a link between its traditionally focused mission with its evolving roles as a tourist haven, a historical preserve, a cultural repository and an environmental sanctuary. |
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HUNDRED YEARS AT CAMP JOHN HAY By Bona Elisa Resurreccion |
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stroke of a pen a hundred years ago began the transformation of
a pine – forested, fog-enshrouded pasture land into a world
class resort. On October 25, 1903, by executive fiat, President
Theodore Roosevelt carved out 535 hectares of the Philippines
and designated it for military use. Located 5,000 feet above sea
level and blessed with year-round spring weather in a tropical
country, Baguio was a welcome respite from the heat and was viewed
as an economic alternative to sending military men to the United
States for their rest and recreation.
For this reason, the American colonial authorities lost little time in verifying the report of a Spanish expedition that had surveyed the area to assess its suitability as a health resort. In 1900 Dean Conant Worcester, a member of the first and second Philippine Commissions led an expedition to Baguio. During their stay, the group did not only confirm the findings of the Spanish expedition but also found the forerunner of Camp John Hay: a thatch-roof hut built in 1899 by American soldiers in pursuit of fleeing Filipino revolutionaries. (Interestingly enough, the built their one-room headquarters by a spring beside the site where the building that would later serve as hospital, bachelors, quarters and is now the Asian Institute of Management would later be erected.) With confirmation in hand, things moved at a fast clip. Funds were released to build an access road from La Union. Yet, despite the need to travel by horseback and the lack of lodging and other facilities, people did not wait for the road to be completed to come to Baguio. At Camp John Hay, military men in need of recuperation stayed in pitched tents under the pine trees. |