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SPRING
2013
5
It was tourist season and Smyrna with its
many archeological remains was a main
destination.The city’s rather imposing
harbor was lined with lavish hotels, bras-
series and banks, as dozens of steamboat
companies catering for passenger liners ar-
rived almost daily from Europe and other
Ottoman ports. Opulent hotels with their
ostentatious dining rooms were frequently
full. MacLachlan knew that finding a ho-
tel for the Kennedy’s at such short notice
would be an almost impossible task. Still,
it was their request and he obliged.
He led the way to Hucks, the best hotel
in the city.
“I’ve brought you some guests Mr.
Hucks,” announced MacLachlan.
Mr. Hucks, however, informed him that
the hotel was full. MacLachlan led the
couple to yet another opulent hotel.That
hotel proved to be full as well.
Finally, and somewhat regrettably, the
Reverend turned to the Kennedys and
said “So what do you propose we do
now?”To that, John Kennedy simply
replied “I propose that we accept your
generous offer of hospitality!”
Perhaps it was destiny for, as MacLachlan
would often recall, “that day the Lord
caused a mighty wind to blow and for the
next four days no ship of any kind entered
or left the port of Smyrna.”
In those memorable few days, the Kenned-
ys became staunch supporters of the school
and would remain so for the next 37 years.
Thanks to the Kennedys and other donors,
MacLachlan was able to purchase the vacant
lot behind the school – reached only by the
back alley. He closed off the open end to
this back street and waited for any reaction
from the city authorities. He got none and
students were now able to safely run back
and forth through the alley to reach the field.
Still, the playground fell far short of Ma-
cLachlan’s expectations of an athletics field.
Since authorities did not object to his
closing off the back street, he ventured yet
another bold move. He removed the back
walls surrounding the school and the field
- finally creating what he was longing for:
an area large enough for football practice.
It wasn’t perfect. He would have liked a
much larger campus but it would have
to do for the time being. He was itching
to have a bigger school and had already
envisioned what it would look like. He told
himself to be patient and concentrated on
his students, who had become his pride and
joy. For he had good reason to be proud:
The standards of his graduates were
so high that American and European
universities including the University of
Geneva, University of Chicago, and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
were admitting them without the required
official exam.
The reputation of the school was such
that the name was changed to the “Col-
legiate Institute.”
In 1902, MacLachlan thought it was high
time that the College receive a charter
from the US and so appealed to the Board
in Boston to put in an application to the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the
school’s name.
But the Reverend always thought that his
school’s latest name “Collegiate Institute”
sounded rather pretentious.Thus, he and
local administrators began brainstorming
for new names.
The new name couldn’t sound too native
or too ostentatious. It’s not clear whether
it was MacLachlan himself or a staff
member, but someone finally suggested
the name of ‘International College’.
It sounded perfect – exactly what Ma-
cLachlan was looking for. It would be
the fourth and last name change in the
school’s short history.
In 1903, the application was accepted and
‘International College’ proudly entered
the second decade of its history.
To be continued…..
Historical information based on: an interview
with Dr. Howard Reed (summer 2011);
Potpourri of Sidelights and Shadows from
Turkey, by Alexander MacLachlan, 1937.
Smyrna
(Part IV)
The International College –
first campus in Smyrna
Antigone
by
Sophocles
presented in Assembly Hallmby the
students in the Greek Literacy Poetry in April 1910.