History of IC - Episode 2: 1903 - 1934

The International College is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Lebanan and the Middle East and has shaped the history and the lives of many of the peoples and communities of the region in profound and lasting ways. In this series we will expose the detailed hisory of IC from its earliest beginnings in 1872. We Hope you will enjoy reading it as we did.

Episode 2: 1903 - 1911 

Smyrna '1903: The institution is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the name of “International College.” A legal Board of Trustees is created in the United States. This would mark the first year the name “International College” was used. “With a well established standard of academic achievement and general formal recognition, Alexander and his faculty now strongly felt that the Institute deserved to be placed on an officially recognized College basis. It was now, after all, a College. Meanwhile, Alexander and his staff began brainstorming for new names to reflect a possible Charter. It had not escaped Alexander’s attention that the student body of 263 and teaching staff had become truly international: American, Armenian, British , Greeks and Turks

While in Beirut, Sage Hall was completed in 1911 and the completion of Thomson Hall, Rockefeller Hall and the Refectory Buildings in 1913. Largely planned by William H. Hall who would become the Prep’s first principal, the buildings were ready by fall of 1913. They were beautiful: a collection of turn of- the-century style stone buildings overlooking the glittering Mediterranean Sea: Rockefeller Hall, named after John Davison Rockefeller, an American oil magnate and a Protestant philanthropist. Thomson Hall, named after Dr. William Thomson, the author of the bestseller, the “Land and the Book”, who also discovered the lower level of the famous Jeita caves north of Beirut and a founder of SPC. Sage Hall, named after Russel Sage and donated by his Protestant philanthropist wife, Margaret Sage, after his death. The cluster also contained a refectory to accommodate the kitchen, dining room and service facilities of the school, and Martin House - purchased from a Lebanese family with funds donated by a Mrs. Martin from Vermont for the use of the school’s principal.”

Stay Tuned for the next Article in this series 

I Am IC 

This article appears in the Book "I Am IC" authored by Reem Haddad and published in 2019 by Librairie Antoine. This book tells the story of IC from its humble beginnngs in 1872 up to recent times. If you wish to obtain a copy of this book please contact the development office or through Antoine Online