Places change, and pretty fast.
That’s the one constant I’ve noticed of all the many places I’ve traveled and lived all over the world. When the tourists and backpackers get wind of the next international hot spot and start coming in droves, the place is bound to change – and not usually for the better. I’ve seen it happen virtually overnight with the charming village of San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua, the once-beautiful and serene island of Boracay in the Philippines, and the chill seaside city of Nha Trang in Vietnam.
Dumaguete is changing, too. The small city that feels like a town in the central Philippines has a reputation as being more green, friendly, and laid back than other destinations, and that’s why I moved here last year, too. But it’s also what’s drawing more and more expats, retirees, and vacationers, as well as Filipinos from surrounding provinces and cities that are looking for job opportunities in the growing city.
Maybe Dumaguete’s fate was both established and sealed when Forbes Magazine named it one of the top five budget friendly places to retire in the world in a 2014 article?
However, it seems like our little Dumaguete is getting more crowded and congested every few weeks, and already it’s experiencing growing pains.
That being said, today, I wanted to both remind people what Dumaguete used to be, and what makes it such a special place by sharing vintage photos of the community spanning back decades and even more than a century.
I find these photos fascinating and, together, they add up to a visual history of Dumaguete’s evolution.
It also reinforces something I’ve learned along the way: it’s never too early to start feeling nostalgic.
-Norm :-)
That’s the one constant I’ve noticed of all the many places I’ve traveled and lived all over the world. When the tourists and backpackers get wind of the next international hot spot and start coming in droves, the place is bound to change – and not usually for the better. I’ve seen it happen virtually overnight with the charming village of San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua, the once-beautiful and serene island of Boracay in the Philippines, and the chill seaside city of Nha Trang in Vietnam.
Dumaguete is changing, too. The small city that feels like a town in the central Philippines has a reputation as being more green, friendly, and laid back than other destinations, and that’s why I moved here last year, too. But it’s also what’s drawing more and more expats, retirees, and vacationers, as well as Filipinos from surrounding provinces and cities that are looking for job opportunities in the growing city.
Maybe Dumaguete’s fate was both established and sealed when Forbes Magazine named it one of the top five budget friendly places to retire in the world in a 2014 article?
However, it seems like our little Dumaguete is getting more crowded and congested every few weeks, and already it’s experiencing growing pains.
That being said, today, I wanted to both remind people what Dumaguete used to be, and what makes it such a special place by sharing vintage photos of the community spanning back decades and even more than a century.
I find these photos fascinating and, together, they add up to a visual history of Dumaguete’s evolution.
It also reinforces something I’ve learned along the way: it’s never too early to start feeling nostalgic.
-Norm :-)
The Banica River where it flows through Dumaguete before emptying into the Bohol Sea.
Postcard depicting newly established Silliman University, which was founded in 1901 and one of the country's first universities.
Jose Rizal Boulevard possibly in the early 1980s?
An assembly of students at Silliman Hall in Dumaguete early 1900s.. Look at their elegant dress, including one woman in a lavish heavy coat!
Postcard depicting the seaside town of Dumaguete in 1911, before the main Boulevard was constructed.
The Silliman University science building. The university was taken over by Japanese forces in the 1940s and turned into a prison, and they even hung some Filipinos from the big tree on campus..
Street scene from Dumaguete in 1949. Many of those second-floor clapboard structures still exist today.
A view of Dumaguete and the mountain behind it from the sea. Dumaguete was a key transit port between Cebu and Mindanao since the 1800s.
The Canday-ong fishing jetty point in Dumaguete, 1800s.
Dumaguete's early Belfry, the Campanario De Dumaguete, and Cathedral. They still exist today, but now are surrounded by stores and busy traffic downtown!
La Residence Almar Hotel along Jose Rizal Boulevard in Dumaguete. The hotel was once the home of Governor Escanos of Negros Oriental Province.
That same hotel in the backdrop (then called the Al Mar) in 1929 during the Silliman University Commencement Day parade.
The first commencement day at Silliman University, circa 1901.
Many people made their living in fishing in these narrow outrigger canoes, called Bancas.
The old Belfry, one of four watch towers built in the 1700s by Spanish missionaries as a lookout against Muslim raiders by sea. Also pictured is the old church and convent.
Pictured center - Don Atilano Villegas, the governor of Negros Original province from 1925-1931 (where Dumaguete sits).
The Silliman University admin building, probably 1940s.
American troops walk there streets among local Filipinas on a rainy day in 1949. Dumaguete was first occupied by Japanese forces during WWII, and then recaptured and liberated by the U.S. Still to this day, many older Filipinos will call me "Joe" (for "G.I. Joe) and salute, mistakenly thinking I'm in the military.
More rainy day street scenes in Dumaguete from a 1949 Life Magazine article. Notice the banner advertising a movie screening of Hamlet starring Laurence Olivier!
Rizal Boulevard in the 1960s (obviously). While the trees are much bigger now and the walking plaza along the sea looks great, oh how I wish the road was still chill and uncrowded like that!
A parade during Philippines American Friendship Day, which commemorates July 4, 1946, when the U.S. flag was lowered and the Filipino flag was raised, becoming its own sovereign nation - but still with amicable ties to the U.S.
The Port of Dumaguete in the 1950s.
What does Dumaguete look like now? Check it out here.
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