TIMELINE
1891- Present Timeline
The Scottish-Canadian Reverend Alexander MacLachlan and his wife arrived in Izmir, after they had successfully founded the boys school in Tarsus, Turkey. In İzmir, then Smyrna, they began their dream of the International College with 4 students. The student body grew to 234 Students in 10 years.
With one hundred students enrolled, the Reverend’s Boy’s School pioneered the first interscholastic athletics field day in the Ottoman Empire. 3,000-4,000 spectators and participants attended. Smyrna Schools Athletics Association was established. A year later Pan Ionian League was founded.
This picture is of the well known philanthropist, John Steward Kennedy. It was at this time that he visited Smyrna. He, along with his wife Emma, were so touched by the vision and faith of the Reverend MacLachlan that they offered tremendous financial assistance over the years. Thus, providing the means to help MacLachlan’s dreams all come true. The campus that housed thousands of changed lives as well as the present day NATO base owe this man and his wife honor.
Just after MacLachlan held his first Field Day – the first modern Olympics were held in Athens. MacLachlan couldn’t help chuckling to himself. “We are not bold enough to publicly proclaim our initiative in the revival of this ancient and world-renowned contest,” he wrote in his 1937 memoirs, Potpourri of Sidelights and Shadows from Turkey. “We will leave it to the research experts of the future to trace back to its original source the modern little spring from which trickled the stimulating life spirit of athletic revival in modern Greece.”
IC installed the first electric lightning plant in the Ottoman Empire and set up a meteorological station. It was providing such accurate time that the local Ottoman authorities, railroads and by 1910 even the British Royal Navy ships were advised by the Admiralty to set their chronometers by the daily noon signal from the International College. Turkish Authorities, never suspected that camels were being used to smuggle into IC the forbidden electrical appliances.
Dr. James Naismith, the founder of basketball itself helped design the Gymnasium. James Naismith (1861-1939) was a Canadian physical educator who worked for the YMCA. He was a Christian Chaplain, sports coach, innovator and a friend of Rev. MacLachlan’s. He invented the game of Basketball at the age of 30 in 1891. He visited the International College and helped design the present day Gymnasium in 1912.
The Inauguration Day ceremony of the International College, the memorial photo in front of Maclachlan Hall.
S. Ralph Harlow and his wife, Marion arrive in Smyrna. These were my grandparents. They had three children while serving in Turkey from 1912-1922 which included my mother Ruth, her sister Betty and her brother John. Grandfather was the Chaplain of this Chapel on the school property.
1400 books were moved to the common room of this newly built Chapel.
Reverend Harlow writes: “ In August 1912 we sailed for Turkey where
Mrs. Harlow and I were assigned to the International College of Smyrna. We are a part of a wider movement which includes hospitals, dispensaries, and schools such as Robert College in Istanbul.”
Harlow founded the Boy Scouts of Smyrna. Members of the troops included the future Prime Minister of Turkey, Adnan Menderes. He is the second boy from left in the front row.
1914-1918
Armenians were being brutally persecuted while the school became a refuge for many.
The Gallipoli Campaign of 1915-1916, also known as the Battle of Gallipoli or the Dardanelles Campaign, was an unsuccessful attempt by the Allied Powers of World War I to control the sea route from Europe to Russia. The attempt failed in part because of a Turkish Commander, Kemal Atatürk. Many from all sides gave their lives. In fact there were 420,000 casualties and 189,842 deaths.
S. Ralph Harlow spent six months in France as a Y.M.C.A. division director of the headquarters of the American Expeditionary Force attached to the New Zealand Division. It was at this time that he encountered a black American regiment as a Chaplain, thus stimulating his interest in race relationships and civil rights.
These tents on the campus pictured on the right were housing British POWs in 1918. One such POW was no other than our beloved A.A. Milne. We owe Professor Reed for treasuring Milne’s writings and hiding them in the Professor’s favoured cane.
These are British Officers and Prisoners of War sitting on the same steps of MacLachlan Hall, present day building 001.
The British POW Officers, with their men, enjoyed the hospitality of the college and experienced the splendid charity of the college staff. This was during the last and happiest weeks of their long captivity in Turkey through the years of the Great War. For the best all-around Student of the Year, they presented to the International College of Smyrna this silver engraved Sports Challenge Cup. We are not sure in whose hands it rests today but the world treasures detailed photographs of it.
POWs from India, just released from Turkish Prisons.
Greek troops poured into Smyrna with great reception and hopes. They were sent on a mission to take over the country. Why were they on the campus? Interesting how this campus housed everyone.
The Reverend S. Ralph Harlow, Marion and their three children alongside of Anna, my name sake, and her husband Kingsley Birge with their three children all were serving at the International College. The picture is taken in front of their house which is still standing at the NATO base today.
The great Fire of Smyrna claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced people groups. The many men and women who sacrificed their lives to help rescue the dying and the orphaned will not go unrecorded. There is story after story of unprecedented courage rising to the occasion that needs to be honoured especially from the missionaries but not exclusively. This would include my Great Aunt Anna who with great faith saved several Armenian boys.
The International College with the entire library and much of the staff at that time was moved to Beirut, Lebanon. Through faith, persecution and endurance, the Reverend MacLachlan’s dream still lives on today after 122 years.
On 18 February, 1952, Turkey was endorsed and became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The international College property was to house the Allied LANCOM forces in Izmir.
Here I am with the 4 Star American and Italian Generals at International Day NATO 2019, with a Certificate of Appreciation as well as a person letter of gratitude.
These are some of the NATO buildings today.
As you can see my grandfather’s house is still standing, as is the Gymnasium, Maclaghlan Hall and the Chapel.