Baguio City 105th Anniversary

1. Baguio is derived from “bagiw” (“moss” in Ibaloi).
2. The region around Baguio was first settled primarily by the Ibalois. In the nearby town of La Trinidad, Benguet, Spaniards established a zeus or military garrison, but Kafagway, as the city was once known was barely touched.
3. Founded by the second Philippine Commission which arrived in Manila in June, 1900, led by Gov. Gen. William H. Taft, who ordered the search for a cool place in Northern Luzon.
4. Baguio City was established by the Americans as a hill station in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway and it was the United States' only hill station in Asia.
5. On 1 June 1903, the Americans declared Baguio the country’s Summer Capital because of its cool climate and made it the residence of the governor-general. 
6. The Philippine Assembly declared Baguio a chartered city by Act No. 1963 on 1 September 1909 as authored by former Philippines Supreme Court Justice George A. Malcolm. .
7. The city has become the center of business and commerce as well as the center of education in the entire Northern Luzon thereby becoming the seat of government of the Cordillera Administrative Region (C.A.R.).
8. Baguio is the site of the formal surrender of General Tomoyuki Yamashita and Vice Admiral Okochi. It is where they gave up the entire Imperial Japanese Armed Forces to American authorities at the High Commissioner's Residence (now the United States Ambassador's Residence) in Camp John Hay on 3 September 1945, marking the end of World War II.
9. The city is enclosed by the province of Benguet and it covers a small area of 57.5 square kilometres (22.2 sq mi) and is situated an altitude of approximately 1,540 meters (5,050 feet) above sea level, nestled within the Cordillera Central mountain range in northern Luzon and it is the highest major Philippine city in terms of elevation. 
10. Daniel Burnham plotted the plans for the city and he made the City Hall as a reference point where the city limits extend 8.2 kilometres (5.1 mi) from east to west and 7.2 kilometres (4.5 mi) from north to2 south.  
11. REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6710 (10 February 1989) AN ACT DECLARING SEPTEMBER 1 OF EACH YEAR AS BAGUIO CHARTER DAY AND A SPECIAL NON-WORKING HOLIDAY IN THE CITY OF BAGUIO IN ORDER TO COMMEMORATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE SAID CITY.
12. The theme for the 105th Charter Day on 1 September 2014 is “Shared Responsibilities, Duties, and Resources for a Vibrant Baguio.” and part of the celebration is the declaration by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines of The Dominican Hill and Retreat House (1915), the city’s oldest structure, as a protected historical landmark. The Dominican Hill was the site of Colegio del Santissimo Rosario and retreat house of the Dominican Order before the war and it was turned over to the city government in 2005.

References:

Baguio

Awareness: Promoting a vibrant Baguio City

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6710